Sticks & Stones

My neighborhood got sidewalks last winter, which as a runner made me feel safer because I wasn't forced to run on the street amongst the speeding cars. Now, I'm not so excited about them. One section wasn't finished and City of Atlanta workers dumped gravel and all sorts of junk on the unfinished part. Last Wednesday I took several bad steps on that section. Now I have a sore ankle, knee and IT band. Apparently the homeowners with sidewalks on their lots haven't realized that they are in charge of cleaning these wonderful sidewalks. There are many places where the sidewalk can't even be seen because of all of the leaves on the sidewalk. Underneath the leaves are rocks, acorns, and sticks. I keep stepping on them, and it bothers my sore ankle, knee, and IT band. This morning I stayed off the sidewalks and did a workout on the stationary bike. Stationary bike = happy IT band. I followed that up with a 20 minute yoga for runner's workout. My legs are pretty tight. Now it's time to ice the afore mentioned sore knee & IT band. I'm annoyed that I can make it through an entire marathon training program uninjured, but one run with hidden sticks & stones does me in.

Dear Atlanta Homeowners, if you have a sidewalk please clean it! My sore ankle, knee, & IT band thank you in advance.

Dear City of Atlanta, please finish the sidewalks you started a year ago. If you just removed the dirt & gravel you dumped it would be really easy :)