Day 25: Cup Art

Date: March 13th 2011, 9:30 pm
Distance: 9.5 miles
Weather: T-shirt weather

I started my run really late because I had to watch BYU's basketball team get spanked in the Mountain West Conference Championship. Needless to say I got off to a bad start. This run can be conveniently divided into three segments, each characterized by a smell: Cigerette Smoke, Horse Manure, and Barbecue.

Cigerette Smoke

I started by running South, down 9th to center street. For some reason my stomach was iffy and I threw up in my mouth. I got it back down but I knew my throat would be burning for the remaining 9 miles. I decided to ignore it. Things were hectic on Center Street. There was a huge crowd lined up to see Comedy Sports and I couldn't even get by on the sidewalk. The further down I went, I saw more bars, pawn shops, and payday loans institutions. The air started to smell of cigerettes. I ran past a group of people smoking outside and a 280 lbs woman shouted at me:

"Dam*! Run with me for 10 more miles! Hope my heart can take it!"

 What does that even mean?!? I wasn't sure if I should be pleased or offended.

Horse Manure

Anywho, I started heading North. The whole purpose for running this route was that I wanted to run on top of the bridge that always has cup art on it. Briefly... there is a bridge that goes over University, Provo's main street to Orem. People always shove red plastic cups into the chain link fence on the bridge, thus drawing pictures or spelling out messages for the drivers underneath to see. The bridge is actually just an obscure two lane road with little traffic. When I got up there, I was happy to see that there were cups in the fence. The message on one side of the bridge said:

"Burgerback"

The other side had a smilie face and then the word:

"Bum"

I marveled at my good fortune. I thought briefly about removing the cups, but I just couldn't. It was too perfect.

Further up the road, the streetlights and sidewalks disappeared. I was running by all these hidden Manors, Estates, and Gated communities. The scent of horse manure hung in the air like a damp fog. The whole experience felt like I was running up "Saltese" in Spokane.

Barbecue

Moving along, I got up on 800S (Orem), ran past the "Welcome to Provo sign" and kept going up until I was at Timpview High School. Last time I was there, I was on a date with a woman 62 years older than me (Holly's Grandma, for those of you who were concerned). By the time I started South towards home, the air smelled of backyard barbecue. It made sense. After all, it was T-shirt weather and I'm certain there were some antsy men who wanted to drop some burgers on the grill and watch the game today. At least the burgers didn't disappoint.