Out of Place

The last couple of weeks weather has allowed me to actually do my interval workouts on a local track. Last week's workout was 7 x 1000 meters with 3 x 220 for good measure at the end. This week's workout was 4 x 2000 meters with those pesky 3 x 220 as a wrap up. Both workouts went very well. I have to say those type of workouts are my favorite. I like them better than shorter and faster intervals. I also like them better than a long slow run. After both workouts I have felt built up. Even though I was quite tired (from duration more than speed), I felt strong. If that makes sense.

Both of these workouts were much better than they ever could have been on a treadmill. But I am having one issue. In many ways it is a perfect set up - the track is about 2.3 miles away, giving me both a great warmup and cool down running to and from the school. The track is a nice all weather track. It's black which helps the snow to melt off. And it is almost never used. But, I'm not sure I'm actually allowed to be on the track.

Last week when I went, the smaller of the two gates leading in to the track and tennis court area was unlocked and wide open. School was out for Christmas break and I assumed they left it open for people to access the facilities. There were several foot prints in the snow leading up the small hill to the track, making it appear that I wasn't the only one stopping by. This week I re-arranged my workouts so that I would go to the track on Tuesday, rather than Thursday. The reason for this was although teachers would be at the school on Tuesday, students would not be returning until Thursday. I guess I was anticipating there might be an issue using the track with school in session.

But this week when I went got to the track, the smaller gate was firmly locked. I looked at the larger double gate and although there was a chain and lock holding them together, they were held together very loosely. So loose in fact, it was clear that if I ducked down below the chain, I could step through the gates. I briefly considered if I should try to find the office and inquire about their policies for community use of the track. I had actually looked at their website and was not able to find anything. Then I decided to go ahead and slip through the gate and use the track. I didn't want to lose the benefit of my warm up.

It was a great workout. One that left me very tired but as I said earlier, left me feeling stronger. I put my running shell back on, took a drink and strapped my water belt back on, then headed for the gate. I was mildly surprised when I got to the gate to find that a second chain had been put on the double gate. A shorter chain. And now the gates had really no movement. I definitely was not going to slide between the gates, so I took a quick hop over the fence.

Well, I had some questions answered at this point, but I was still left with some. Why was I not supposed to be there? Why didn't they just ask me to leave? I live in this school district and pay property taxes, is it too much to ask that I use the track for an hour once a week? The more I thought, the more irritated my thoughts were becoming.

But I had a good 2.3 miles to think about it as I ran home. I guess I could see with some of the nuts that are out there these days, that it might make sense to limit public access to the school. But school wasn't in session. Maybe they were concerned about vandals. But the fence was pretty low and quite easy for this old guy to hop over. I'm sure it wouldn't be a deterrent to vandals. I arrived at home with a less irritated curiosity than when I left the track, but still with questions.

Several days later I still have questions. I have held off on this post hoping to have some resolution to the story. My nephew has a friend who coaches at a local high school and he asked him about it. Unfortunately their track is covered in ice on one end or he would let me run there. He recommends calling the other school and talking specifically with the track coach. He suspects that I'll be let in to use the track if I can talk to the right person.

Somehow it doesn't seem like it should be this hard. But then, motivation is easy to come by. If I can't get on the track, I'll have to face the treadmill.