Back on the trail again.

Yesterday I started the week out with a 5K run on the W&OD Trail in 28:51. I wore my "boot" brace and my brand new orthotics and it seemed to go well, although my sore ankle never bothers me when I run, only afterwards. Although both my ankle and my legs are sore now, I plan to run twice more this week, short distances slowly, and see how it goes.

It was good to be out running on the trail again, although after a mere 7 minutes, still far short of a mile, I was sucking wind. Still, that was better than last week when I thought I was going to die on a run after only 5 minutes.

The trail is clear now. Here's what it looked like a month ago, the last time I was on it.

How snowy has it been this winter? Here's one of the four snow piles I created around the head of my driveway from snow shoveling last month.

A mile and a half down the trail I saw Trevor at his usual spot on the corner and went over to talk with him. It gave me a welcome break midway through my run.

I've spoken about Trevor before. He is homeless and our priest commanded us one Sunday to go out and speak with a homeless person and let him or her influence our life in some little way. I settled on Trevor.

Trevor was suspicious of me at first but now he calls out a greeting whenever I approach, as he knows me, and my car, by sight now. He actually knows a lot of motorists who drive by his corner. He claims he loved my Christmas card, which I delivered to him personally with an address of Trevor, I-66 at Route 29, Falls Church VA.

Trevor is a veteran who was with the 82nd Airborne with an MOS of tank inspector. He saw combat in Afghanistan, if I have heard him correctly. We talk military stuff. Yesterday we talked about the HBO Special Miniseries which started last night, The Pacific War. He was going to watch it at the shelter and I told him it would feature horrific fighting in 1944 on Peleliu, and that that was where my Dad fought.

Pickings were slim for him today as no one stopped to give him any money while I was there, except for one lady. For a dollar, she could have gotten a lot of people hurt. Some people have no sense.

Trevor is obviously hobbled, as he uses a cane. This lady was driving by on the far side of the raised median on the highway (Lee Highway) that cuts across the terminus of the exit ramp from I-66 which is where Trevor stands. She stopped in traffic, backed up, and called out to him to cross four lanes of exit-ramp traffic and two more highway lanes to accept a handout from her.

Trevor muttered, "This is a first, stopping way over there. She's going to get me killed."

Instead I warily jogged through the traffic (there's a light there, which helps) to fetch her offering for Trevor, a single dollar bill. Much as it was appreciated by him, there was great potential for lethality present in her gesture. Some people just don't think.

My good deed done, I jogged home. On the return I marked a mile on the trail in 9:20, which left me breathless. Yikes! I've got a lot of work to do.