I’ve finally made it… to the point where I’m starting to get back to some semblance of consistency. That is with regard to the frequency of my running. I ran five days last week and my running route is 2.5 miles long (that’s about 4 kilometers for you metric folks. Yeah, I know American’s are backwards… blah blah blah). So that’s 12.5 miles total for last week… GO ME! (Sorry, I had to toot my own horn. If not for my pride… for my fatty liver.) Now that I’m past the initial, “Ugh, I hate running!” phase I’ve realized that my run consists of two distinct portions.
There is the first half which is very similar to the the afore mention sentiment. It is literally a living hell. Every muscle in my legs is screaming, “GO HOME!” My lungs are wheezing, “WHAT!?” And my brain is saying, “I really think I feel a migraine coming on. You should turn back before it gets any worse.”
Now, the second half is diametrically opposed to the first half. My legs have given up all hope of turning back and realize that we are on the second half. This means that the shortest distance to home has now arrived and we are on that path. My lungs have stopped complaining and are now silently performing their task. And the brain… well that’s an interesting one. That’s where the title to this entry comes from (at least part of it). For the second half of my run my brain rabbit trails all over the place from bills that I know are past due to something funny I saw on YouTube.com last week (go ahead and click, you know you want to. It’s work safe so don’t worry.) to a million dollar idea I have for a new website (I’ll never tell). The sky is the limit really. I think this is what makes the second half of the run so much better; it’s almost like the old saying of mind over matter. It’s as if my run/jog has now become just a lounge chair for my brain which is flipping channels and watching whatever it thinks is interesting on it’s mental television. Deep… I know. Just let it soak in for a moment. Ok, that’s enough.
So what’s any of this have to do with water conservation you ask? Good story. I hit the last mailbox which marks the end of my run and turned up the hill towards my house. Notice I end the run before the hill. And what do I see but a spewing rainbow of water and color coming from the fire hydrant at the end of my road. At first I figure something has gone wrong; perhaps a car has veered off the road and caused the unnatural afternoon shower. But upon further inspection I spy a utility truck parked just upstream of the hydrant. It’s an E.C.U.A. (Escambia County Utilities Authority) truck. They’ve attached some apparatus to the fire hydrant and are letting gallons upon gallons of water just flow out into the street and down into the drainage systems. I have to go around to avoid being doused in water and cross through some neighbors yard to get over onto my street. Two houses down an elderly gentleman has a hose out with an attachment at the end and is watering his flowers in the front yard. ( /confused ) Does this seem strange to anyone but me? I smile at the guy and say, “Hey, they’re giving the stuff away for free right over there.” He chuckles back a smile. Right away I start computing ways of streamlining a path of water to my house so that I could save money. Then I wonder… why are they flooding the streets with water in the first place? I seem to recall some article about having to periodically relieve pressure in fire hydrants but that may have been pure myth. But whatever the reason, I figure surely there could be a better way to get rid of the water. There could be some sort of irrigation system that distributed the water to lawns throughout the neighborhood. They wouldn’t be able to let it all out at once like that, but could allow it to release slowly over several days or weeks. And I’m sure nobody would complain about getting their lawns watered for free. Anywho, seems odd that they charge us for water usage, then just flush tons of gallons of it down the drain for apparently no reason.
Well, I don’t know if you enjoyed this or not. I may just be talking into the ether. This may become a regular blog category to catalog the random streams of consciousness I discover while on my daily (somewhat) runs. I also hope to eventually place links to an actual log with a calendar and distances, times, etc.
As you need to exercise the fleshy matter that you call a body, so does the fire hydrant need to “exercise” as well. Over the course time the “operating nut” can fail to perform when called upon to do so at the most desirable time. Galvanic corrosion sets in and begins to bond the two dissimilar metals within the hydrant, rendering it useless. ECUA should do this periodically to insure maximum performance. You never know when all those neurons in your head get to firing up all it once, your cranial cavity may spontaneously ignite and set your couch on fire. It’s a good thing. BTW, cars running over a hydrant and spewing water is a Hollywood thing. The valve that controls water flow is actually underground, it just breaks them stem off when you run over it. There is a hydrant in Pace on the NW corner of Hwy 90 and East Spencerfield Rd. that is buried almost over the “nozzles” that the fire truck hooks to and connects the hoses to. Hope the fore dept brings a shovel if Pen Air Bank catches on fire.
There is now a new service that that is called “reclaimed” water service. Your local utility company offers this service, it recycles sewage water by adding microbes to it, and they resell it for about 5 cents per thousand gallons (potable water is about $1.50 per thousand) Unfortunately, it is being installed in new construction areas, and may be too cost prohibitive to be installed in existing neighborhoods. Experts say it is clean enough to drink, but if you have any immune deficiencies, it might push you over the edge, into the grave. Nice picture on the mag cover, you got a sista?
Thanks for the explanations, brotha man! The reasons behind that huge waste of water was eating away at my cranium.
And yes, I do have a sister. I believe she would be to your liking as well. Shall I arrange a hookup?