TITLE: Running on the Road: Greenfield, Indiana
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: August 06, 2007  2:27 PM
DESC: 
-----
BODY:
(The sixth stop in the Running on the Road series.
The first five were
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-09.html#e2004-09-16T07_43_33.htm">
   Allerton Park, Illinois</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-10.html#e2004-10-11T12_12_51.htm">
   Muncie, Indiana</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-10.html#e2004-10-31T16_38_40.htm">
   Vancouver, British Columbia</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2005-02.html#e2005-02-28T10_59_57.htm">
   St. Louis, Missouri</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2006-04.html#e2006-04-07T14_23_13.htm">
   Houston, Texas</A>,
and
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2006-04.html#e2006-04-14T09_06_48.htm">
   Carefree, Arizona</A>.)

<IMG SRC="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/running/greenfield/courthouse.jpg"
     ALT="Hancock County Courthouse"
     WIDTH="200"
     ALIGN="right">

I tend to write these reports about running in a big city
that others might visit, or a hot tourist spot, or at least
a
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-09.html#e2004-09-16T07_43_33.htm">
   conference location</A>,
that some readers of my blog may care about. But this is
more like my report on visits to my alma mater in
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-10.html#e2004-10-11T12_12_51.htm">
   Muncie, Indiana</A>.
It is about running in my high school hometown of Greenfield,
Indiana.  I didn't live in Greenfield for very long -- for
four years of high school, and then summers during my college
years -- but in many ways it still feels like home.  I'm
finishing up a few days back in Greenfield for a
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-07.html#e2007-07-20T19_38_28.htm">
   high school reunion</A>,
and I did something I never did when I lived here all those
years ago: I ran.

I did not run at all, really, until I was in graduate school.
Sure, there were occasional attempts at a few miles here and
there, and a bit of time on the track in physical education
classes, but I never got over the hump.  Every run seemed
less enjoyable than it should have been, and I never got past
the feeling that I wasn't cut out to run.

So running this weekend gave me a different perspective on
my hometown than I had ever had before, on the pavement at
dawn, seeing buildings and scenery and signs pass by me from
eye level.  When I add this effect to the sense of change I
felt after having been gone from town almost completely for
eleven years and and nearly so for twenty, I experienced an
mixture of
<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu">
   d&eacute;ja vu</A>
and
<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamais_vu">
   jamais vu</A>
unlike any before.  For hours.  While maxing out my legs at
the beginning of marathon training.  Not ordinary runs at
all.  The unusual sensation of time fits very well with
attending a 25-year high school reunion and with recently
reading Alan Lightman's book.

I used my time own the road to survey the changes that have
happened in
<A HREF="http://www.greenfieldin.org/">
   Greenfield</A>
in the last decade.  I recall it as a town of 15,000 or so
folks, most with rural and small-town roots.  Its official
population back in 1980 must have been much less, as the 1990
census shows only about 12,000 people, but the outlying
rural areas were then beginning to attract people from bigger
cities in search of inexpensive land.  Unofficially, the
population these days must be closer to 30,000, and one can
see that in the explosive growth of the town to the north
and east.  One big change I notice as I visit local stores
and restaurants and as I run through town is much greater
diversity.  When I lived here, Greenfield and its entire
county were almost 100% white, but now I see Asian immigrants,
African Americans, and especially Latinos everywhere.  The
result is more plentiful choices of food for the palate and
a richer set of accents for the ear.

Sightseeing in one's own hometown is a great way to run.  I
encourage it to those of you who ever have the chance.

<IMG SRC="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/running/greenfield/mile-marker.jpg"
     ALT="Mile Marker 1.0 on the Pennsy Trail"
     WIDTH="200"
     ALIGN="right">

Other than running around town on city and country roads,
I can report one neat development: the beginnings of a
recreation route called the
<A HREF="http://www.indianatrails.org/Pennsy_Trail.htm">
   Pennsy Trail</A>.
This trail parallels
<A HREF="http://www.nps.gov/fone/natlroad.htm">
   Old National Road</A>
(U.S. 40) along the former Pennsylvania Railroad line
just south of Greenfield's main street.  It crosses
Brandywine Creek, which is the presumed site of poet
and Greenfield native
<A HREF="http://www.jameswhitcombriley.com/">
   James Whitcomb Riley</A>'s
ol' swimmin' hole.  Right now, the trail isn't much, running
only 3 miles or so to the east of downtown Greenfield, but
eventually the Pennsy Trail will 
connect westward to a
<A HREF="http://www.indianatrails.org/9-county_overview.htm">
   network of trails</A>
in central Indiana,  and perhaps be a link in the
<A HREF="http://www.indianatrails.org/NRHT/">
   National Road Heritage Trail</A>,
which will follow U.S.40 across Indiana's breadth.  As a
runner, I greatly appreciate clean, marked, metered trails
that offer peace, natural scenery, and even occasional
services such as water fountains and toilet facilities.
They are also a great resource for the citizens of the
community, a sign that the community is thinking about
the quality of life it offers citizens and visitors alike.

Now I am off for a couple of days running in Plainfield,
a city also on the Old National Road but on the west side
of Indianapolis.  Plainfield also has a nice trail system
connecting its parks from north to south, which I will
surely patronize.  After that I'll do one run in Santa
Ana, California, and a couple in San Diego.  I probably
will not write Running on the Road reports for Plainfield
or Santa Ana, but I do have some raw material for a report
on San Diego, from my three trips for
<A HREF="http://www.oopsla.org/2005/ShowPage.do?id=Home">
   OOPSLA 2005</A>.
San Diego is a beautiful place to run, and I look forward
to being there just for fun.
-----