Races Like a Girl

I run through the same park nearly every day on a paved path shared by runners, walkers and bikers. I usually do a loop run that stretches from Bronxville up to Scarsdale, taking me almost exactly 7 miles. The loop can be broken up into mini loops, allowing me to create loop combinations to equal various distances (2 miles all the way up to 26.2 miles). For example, today I’ll do it twice for a 14 miler.

It’s a rare day that I run along the loop and don’t see at least a few other people. Yesterday was one of those days, though, at least for the upper 4.6 portion of the Scarsdale loop. Without people to distract me, I usually notice other things.

Yesterday I started noticing random acts of kindness.

The first random act I noticed was a small log placed on top of a bouquet of flowers. There are dozens of trees planted along the loop, many bearing a small placque in memory of someone. You’ll sometimes see flowers either planted or left around a placque. My first impulse, when I saw the log, was to think, “Look at how that ugly log has landed on those flowers. I should move it.” But it was very windy yesterday, with wind gusting to around 25 MPH. I realized that someone must have thought to use the log to secure the flowers to their spot.

The second random act I spotted was a bright red glove, with no companion. Someone had taken the glove and positioned it on a tree branch jutting out over the path. The glove was waving at me. I hope it finds its sibling.

Finally, there are the odd objects you see lying around. Yesterday was one of the oddest I’ve seen yet: a cracked plastic disk promoting the Fighting Seabees (“We build for the fighters, we fight for what we build.”)

I’ll see if it’s still there today.

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