Wk11/D2 - An Easy 5K in the Cemetery

5K @37:13

Avg. Pace 7:25/km

As you can see from my pace, I took it very, very easy today. I opted to go for a run rather than taking a rest day, but with a tempo planned for tomorrow, I used today simply as a warm-up.

I headed with the boys to the cemetery. I left my iPod at home because of my new rule - no tunes on runs 5K or less. :) I also took my camera so I could take a few photos.

I am very comfortable in cemeteries, as a general rule. I don't quite understand people's automatic dislike for them. I think of my father whenever I am in a cemetery because, as a kid, I spent a lot of time in them with him. He loved the history cemeteries have to offer and has passed this on to me (hence my undergraduate history degree?). I spent many a Sunday afternoon with him exploring cemeteries around southwestern Ontario, listening to him explain someone's story or the connections between tombstones. Perhaps my comfort level comes from my viewpoint that a cemetery is more for the living than it is for the dead.

In particular, I really enjoy my local Mt. Pleasant cemetery. It's scenic and very park-like. There are always gardeners working in it, maintaining the beautiful grounds, and they allow dogs, providing plastic bag holders and garbage cans everywhere to ensure dog-walkers (and dog-runners!) co-exist with everyone else.

There is always someone there, tending to a plot-specific garden (this cemetery allows personal gardens around tombstones and there are quite a few). It is 'busy' in this sense, the number of people who pay their respects and maintain their loved one's plot. Without fail, whenever I am running in this cemetery, I see someone there, keeping the memory of someone else alive through some act.

While I am running, I like reading the tombstone headers and seeing something different every time I go. Just today I noticed a statue that has been there for years, but overlooked by me until now. I love the neatness and organization of all the little crosses in the veteran's area, but saddened by the number of them, only a tiny fraction of how many people who have fought in wars. There are family-specific areas, and ethnicity-specific areas. And as of last summer, there are new memorial walls for those who choose cremation.

So this is what I thought about and focused on rather than speed, pace, mileage, tempo, hills, and intervals. :) As much as I need that focus to keep my running and progressing, it is also very nice to get out 'just for a run.'