Last run in Providence

COVID-19 “The Rona Era”

Today is my last day in Providence before heading back to Boston. This has been a good 96 hour get-away, “ working vacation.” I missed going to different cities and running, damn you COVID. Before I left I wanted to explore more of the neighborhood I was in. I found out that I was near Providence College and this was going to be my running destination.

I’ve heard of Providence College because of basketball , I knew one person that went there for undergrad and I have a colleague who teaches there, otherwise I knew nothing about it .

On route running to the campus I passed by a church, an amazing smelling bakery, a french-English bilingual school, and a toilet before I reached the campus gate with a security guard.

I ran passed the guard and onto the gated, lush green, catholic campus. It was quiet of course and very peaceful. As I continued running, I saw a track field on their main campus. There were two latinx women walking the track and I saw two “ runners, hard core runners” enter into the track. I followed behind them.

I know you can’t tell what a runner looks like, this two had the stereotypical body and attitude of a hard core runner.

I started running on the track. When I passed the runner’s stuff, they had 3 different set of shoes, each, and one had spikes under the shoe.

I’ve learned if I go around the track 4 times that’s a mile. As I ran around the track, I felt my knee getting better. I think that was due to the evenness of the track. My time was even faster. Part might have been psychological. I wanted those runners to know that I am a runner too, so there. I made sure to keep on running around the track.

The two lovely Latinx women left the track and now it was the three of us, the two hardcore runners and me.

When I finished my mile on the track, the gate I run into to get in was locked. It had a lock on it and I could not get out. How did this happen, I don’t know. I’m thinking there might have been a special key for Providence College folks and I happen to follow the runners. All I knew is that I needed to get out. The gate was too high for me to get over.

I had a moment of clarity when I saw one part of the gate was near the stands and it was low enough for me to get my legs over and that is what happened. Whew, I made it.

After that situation it was only fitting that I saw a sign that said never give up! All of this adventure in 3.30 miles on a Thursday morning.

Interesting start to the morning