Running errands

So I put on the backpack and jogged down to the town (it's about three miles away), and around, and got home about two hours later.  I estimate 1:30-1:40 of that was running.  The weather was great, 12-16ish C, sunny, and not too humid.  Perfect lazy jogging weather. 

I stopped for commerce three times.  Once just to buy some girl scout cookies for my husband, but my main task was to get a gift for a baby shower.

The baby/kid store was my first stop, so I wasn't gross, but I still felt kind of...the thing is, I've stopped to shop plenty of times on runs, and it can work really well, but the stores have to be a certain type:

1.  athletic store of some sort, apparel or nutrition or whatever.  Running Room or Local Running Store is great.  Even Dicks or EMS counts.  Not everyone in there will understand my state (oh, people who exercise get sweaty, call a doctor) and of course I wouldn't try on anything, but if I want to buy something that I don't have to try on, or need mid-run fuel or a bathroom, no prob.

2.  Gas station.  In and out.  Nobody's got time to judge me.  EDIT: untrue, one punter in a gas station saw me holding my fabulous dill Doritos and told me, something, I forget what--but it was sort of judgemental.  I was polite, well, I laughed and turned away--dude didn't know that I was 1/3 into a 30 mile run and I had to eat plenty.  Although Doritos aren't the best thing, but sometimes the cals have to be sweet and empty.

3.  Walmart.  I haven't actually tried this, and I avoid Walmart as much as possible, but anything goes in Walmart. 

4.  Farmers' market.  The bomb!  Especially if it's one with food trucks.

5. FOOD TRUCKS.  Not technically a store either but I bow in appreciation. 

6.  Ethnic grocery stores.  I've never had any issues or stares beyond "oh, there's a white person in here", which hasn't happened too often anyway, at least not in North America. 

7.  Downtown grocery stores with a predominantly pedestrian population.  I'm just another person buying some stuff on my way home from the gym.

8.  Health food stores.

9.  Ikea. Maybe that's not appropriate but a long jog can accentuate surreality, which can be highly amusing in Ikea and other similar places.  I would love love love to integrate an aquarium into a long run--I don't know why I didn't do this when I was living in Baltimore!  Anyway, please see video/explanation below.

Then there is a grey area/judge on an individual basis: coffee shops, drugstores, butcher, electronics, post office, galleries, book stores, libraries, museums, etc.

Then the no-go zone: fancy clothing stores, fancy restaurants, jewelry (I look like I just stole something, after all), banks (same reason), and kid stores. 

Actually, it wasn't terribly bad, and the clerk was really nice, and I would go back to that store if I needed another baby shower gift...but everything was so nice and proper and soft in there.  I smiled and was polite, and I still got weird looks* from a couple of mothers even though one of them was wearing yoga pants.  That's exercise stuff too!!!!  I was dressed modestly, no short shorts, just a wool tank top and capris--I've seen women wearing this kind of thing so many times, including many women pushing baby strollers.  Admittedly, it probably wasn't just the spandex--sun's out, guns out--but I'm not that ripped either, so it was probably the backpack.  It's a small backpack but maybe I looked homeless.  Most adults here don't have backpacks.  Anyway, it was a weird experience and I felt out of place.  Please see video/explanation below.

But then, a few minutes later on some random street, I ran by an old guy with a backpack too.  Enthusiastic Hi!s were exchanged.  It was neat to know that I wasn't the only one in the gotta-carry-my-stuff club.  It's a very car-centric place.

I jogged around a bit more, did some exploring, and then went to the health food store and bought some more iron pills.  It took me a while and a nice clerk to find them though: after I've been running for over an hour or so, my vision goes wonky.  It's just stereoblindness, but I guess I get sloppy about switching between eyes or whatever, so I end up with blurry double vision.  It sounds worse than it is, but if I'm trying to read a bunch of little labels, it's a drag.  It makes me feel like I'm juggling an extra dimension, but this has its good points too.  please see video/explanation below.

I might not belong here but that might actually enrich the experience. Or not.  disclaimer: I have never ever urinated into or even snacked from the olive bar, or been that mean to a fellow customer.  That's all nasty!  But, vandalism aside, this is sort of how things seem when I go into a store after running for a while.  Food library.

*weird looks are ok and probably happen inadvertently for the most part, but I forgot to mention that I got upgraded.  I was going down an aisle with a couple of small children toddling ahead.  I said something like "hey guys, what's up?"  Just so that they knew I was in the aisle too and wouldn't run into me (kids that small often don't look ahead).  The mother grabbed them, crouched, and put them behind her.  That would've been ok too, maybe it was the easiest way to corral them, but the look of panic she gave me, as she crouched there like some furtive, feral creature protecting her den, made me feel exceedingly low.   I've heard guys say that they have to be careful when interacting with children, and I'd just assumed that it would be like working with children (ie, never speak with a child one on one behind closed doors), but I hadn't actually felt like stranger danger before.  It sucks because kids are funny.  One time, I was getting blood withdrawn at a clinic for tests, back at home, and a kid wandered in from an adjoining booth.  We had a nice conversation during which I told him that I was over six hundred years old.