MY NEIGHBORS

Since I haven't ran for the past 2 days I really shouldn't write about running (although I put in a good 6 miles and talked to my coach!). During my run though, I was thinking about my neighbors.

Most of these "neighbors" are not really neighbors, most of them just live in the vicinity. They live on a street that my street comes off of, but since I am so well aquainted with their sidewalks, I feel as though they are my real neighbors.

My favorite is the short old man who walks his old dog outside when it's 30 degrees out. He and his dog shuffle along slowly, although it may be because the old man is so tightly bundled up. I salute him though because he is out there when many people aren't. I call him "the old guy with the old dog". I have only one problem with him and that is the fact that his sidewalks are never clear until a week after the snow/ice come. I know he is an old man, that's where he got his nickname, but he has people living with him, there's cars in the driveway, and sometimes there's a shovel by his door. I almost want to shovel his sidewalk for him because whoever is supposed to be shoveling off his sidewalk is doing a terrible job of it.

The old guy with the old dog had a surprise for me however. His sidewalks were SHOVELED. Hardly anybody's sidewalks were shoveled which makes it an even bigger surprise. But the sidewalks were clear, no ice or snow. If he had been standing in his driveway, I would've hugged him although he obviously is not the one shoveling it. I think he was giving me an early Christmas present because he made my last around home run before Christmas a very special one.

Not all my neighbors are kind and nice like the old guy with the old dog. Some of them hate me. Take for example the people who live on a corner that kept their McCain/Palin sign up almost 3 weeks after the election (a.k.a. the Palin people). I haven't seen them before and they don't know I support Obama but they hate me. There is always something wrong with their sidewalks. A few days ago, everyone's was clear while the Palin people's was icy. It didn't just have icy patches, the sidewalk was a sheet of ice. They also build hurdles at the end of their sidewalks. Where the street meets their sidewalk there always seems to be a big pile of snow. It's over a foot high and I somehow have to jump over it. I haven't missed yet but it's kind of embarrassing when the cars drive by. Today they didn't even bother shoveling their driveway (and even the old guy with the old dog did!). The Palin people just don't like me.

The other kind of neighbors that seem to be popular lately are the stalker or creeper neighbors. When they see me run by they pull up chairs to their windows and watch me. They know my route (which I guess isn't that hard, because I have like one route where laps can be added on) and they are always so impressed that I run up the hill. One such neighbor today was walking his dog towards the bottom of the hill (the dog didn't even bark at me!) and from across the street he told me how he was impressed with how I was always running. He used to run up the hill but can't do that anymore. He used to have fun doing it and it's nice to see someone else having fun running too.

I wasn't even going to run up the whole hill because the street conditions were too slick but I ran up halfway because I apparently have a reputation to keep.

Another lady that lives on my hill told me, while shoveling her sidewalks, that she was so impressed with how I ran up the hill all the time because she could barely walk up.

These people may just be trying to be nice but it gets a little creepy. Everybody seems to know that I'm that girl who's always running. And how do they know I'm always running. Do they have jobs or something better to do that look out their windows and watch me? Even the HOPE sign people knew I was that runner girl because they hadn't seen me for awhile (I know they are retired so they're excused). These people know more about me than I know about them, I don't recognize half of them. It does make me feel good though.

I haven't covered all my neighbors yet (just wait for the snow comet people) but my favorites have been talked about. They really aren't that bad as long as they clear off their sidewalks.