It was a wild week for this Red-B Rider, filled with car trouble (one car family, hence the Red-B rider-ness), a slight case of sickness, and most importantly, a slow motion jogger. I won’t touch on the car trouble or sickness here – we can all probably agree on their suckiness. Slow motion joggers on the other hand are quite different. Before things get too uncomfortable, I want to point out I’m not talking about (*roll credits) Baywatch slow motion jogging.
Prior to Monday, in my time spent cruising the streets of Bloomington-Normal on the Red-B, I’ve seen just one slow motion jogger. I try to play “I’m going to fly now” from Rocky in my head every time I see him, because it looks like he’s training for a prize fight…in slow motion. I’ve seen the champ run on Vernon, mostly between the Country Companies and College Avenue.
On Monday however, as I was waiting for the bus at a new spot (dropped the car off for an oil change/engine rebuild), I discovered a different slow motion jogger. The scene began with a mangy looking German shepherd trotting down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. I thought for a second about being a hero and running over to grab it, but then realized it would be hard to hold my citizen of the year trophy after Cujo bit my hand off. I watched it gallop for a bit, then stop to look back at another dog (an equally impressive unknown mixed-bag breed) following suit.
The peculiarness compounded when Slow Motion Jogger No. 2 (so named because he was discovered after Rocky Slow Motion Jogger or Slow Motion Jogger No. 1) came blazing around the corner. I recently read in Sports Illustrated that Usain Bolt hit 27 miles per hour during his world record setting performance in the 100, so I’d estimate this “blazing” speed in the one to one and half mile per hour range. At first I thought No. 2 was chasing the dogs and it made me sad to think that they would lap him somewhere in northern Wisconsin after circumnavigating the globe.
My 8 a.m. tardy brain realized he wasn’t chasing the dogs, rather taking them for a walk. My sadness turned into awe as the dogs jogged ahead and turned around periodically to wait to see if he was still coming, then jog on a little more. The German shepherd got to the corner and turned to continue on the path, like it had done it a thousand times before. Circus Dog Training Slow Motion Jogger just plodded along, but was running with higher esteem in my mind.
Another random tidbit from the week, Celeste, my pal from Cameroon, is now calling me Steve for some reason…awesome. I just had an awkward encounter changing my name from Tim with another rider last semester. Maybe I’ll start wearing a name tag.
I hope this was somewhat coherent…medicine head is starting to kick in.
Until next time, see you in Uptown Normal at :35 and :55 after the hour. (Unless the bus comes three minutes early twice and you miss it…ugh!)
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