IRONTON TRAIL

I guess I really ramped up my half-marathon training, as I ran eight miles yesterday on this gorgeous, if a bit noisy, paved trail through the suburban landscape. The Ironton Rail Trail is about 13-ish miles of paved path.

Part of this trail goes right next to a shooting range. Like, DIRECTLY next to it. It’s sort of terrifying, since, well, this is America.

The whole trail is built along the old Ironton rail system, that went away many years ago.

If you look close at that sign above, it says “Conductor’s Office.” This got me thinking how years ago this was sometimes entire life – get up, go to work, do all this important work, year after year.

And now it’s nothing. It’s gone. This foundation is probably all that remains. All the files, the equipment, the desk and chairs, probably buried in a landfill somewhere when this was all shut down.

Where does that leave any of us? Like, 50 or 100 years from now, our laptops will be antiques, relics. Our emails wiped, digital photos on our phones lost forever.

But hey! A day after running eight miles I feel great. Not stiff, nothing is sore. Heck, already got out for a one mile morning walk. Two weeks until my half-marathon!