T minus 9 days.     Running day

My favorite place to run is Stratton Brook State Park.  Stratton Brook is a beautiful 150 acre park conveniently located right across the street.  It has a long, flat, main path on which I have logged many, many miles.  And so it was to Stratton that I headed this afternoon for my run.  Perhaps it was the humidity, perhaps it was the graying sky overhead, I don't really know, but when I got there I didn't see another person.  I was alone.  I had the place to myself.  Being alone in the middle of a state park may make a more normal person nervous, but I loved it.  The calm, the quiet, the peacefulness.   I was running along the path becoming one with nature.    I ran and ran.  By myself.
  I remember reading somewhere that Mick Jagger runs five miles everyday.  And as he runs, he sings.  It keeps him in shape for his concerts.  Have you seen Mick Jagger in concert lately?  Who wouldn't want to have his energy at his age?  So I started to hum.  M mm mmm mm. "I can't get no....satisfaction."  I find myself starting to sing softly.  "I can't get no satisfaction."  No one is around.  I sing a bit louder.   " I can't get no satisfaction. "  A bit louder.  "But I try.  And I try.   I can't get no...  bababa ...SATISFACTION."  Louder.   "Driving in my car....watching my t.v., same white shirt as me....can't get no....SATISFACTION."  These are all the words I know.  Time to switch to another song.  What song.  What song.  What is a good running song?  Dancing Queen.  Abba's Dancing Queen.   Perfect.   "Friday night and the lights are low.  Looking out for the place to go..."  I am running.  I am singing.  "Night is young and the music's hi- i - gh,"  I am running.  I am skipping. "Bit of rock music everything's fine."    I am dancing.    "You're in the mood for a dance....and when you get the chance..."  I am dancing.  I am Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia.  "You are the dancing queen.  Young and sweet only seventeen..." I am twirling.  "Feel the beat from the tam-bo-rine."   I am dancing, dancing.   I point to the squirrels, the chipmunks, the birds.  They join in.  "You can dance.  You can ji--ive....having the time of your lives...."  We are all dancing down the path, twirling, twirling, singing out loud...."DANCING QUEEN....YOUNG AND SWEET ONLY SEVENTEEN.  DIGGIN THE DANCING QUEEN.  AHHAAA."   I pause to take a breath.  It is when I pause to take that breath I hear it.  A twig cracking.  A twig cracking from someone stepping on it.  A twig cracking from someone stepping on it right behind me.

Stratton Brook, like all good state parks, has many paths.  They twist and turn throughout the park and eventually lead back to the main path.  Stratton Brook is in Simsbury, Ct.  Simsbury has a high school, Simsbury High School.   Simsbury High School has a cross country team, the Boys' Cross Country Team. Simsbury High School is also located across from Stratton Brook.  Apparently, the Boys' Cross Country Team runs even in the summer.  In Stratton Brook.  On one of the side paths.  One of the side paths that runs parrallel to and then spills out onto the main path.  Where I am a Dancing Queen.