There are many different athletes on the trail. The fastest are those who have vehicles with wheels. Sometimes there are so many wheels on the trail, I feel like it’s a parade. There are speedy bicyclists, but the most out of control are the rollerbladers. They skate back and forth across the trail and never stay on one side. Skateboarders and those with scooters (two- and three-wheeled) usually stay on one side but can zip right by you before you notice them. Some combine tasks by skateboarding and walking a dog at the same time. A woman reads a book and walks a dog. But my favorite multitasker is a woman with a tiny baby in a sling pouch around her neck pushing a baby carriage with yet another young child inside, while also walking a dog.
Bicyclists are all ages and don’t even have to be human. They complain about the weather. There is a little girl with a helmet that looks like a pink dinosaur and matching knee pads and another girl with a pink helmet that has cat ears. A helmeted man with a white beard rides a bicycle and another older man wears a gimme cap with his helmet on top. A bare-chested man rides a bicycle and two other (fully clothed) men play salsa music while they ride. Baskets on the front of bicycles are popular for carrying small dogs and children. A man and woman in pink and yellow shirts and matching helmets say they only rode for three days because of the previous 11 days of rain.
Runners and joggers are the fastest non-wheeled entities on the trail. There are runners/joggers of both sexes. On a cold morning there is a woman running in a purple jacket with a bright orange hood and matching cuffs and tight gray leggings. Nothing is left to the imagination. Every detail of her hips bounces up and down. It reminds me of the joke, “Her pants were so tight you could see the date on the dime in her pocket.” One chilly morning there is a man in a brown sweater, brown gloves, white shorts and white tennis shoes. It makes me wonder why he needs gloves but not long pants. There is a couple running with a tiny chihuahua running off-leash in between them. He pauses to look at me and runs on.
Runners seem to be the least fazed by the weather or time of day. There are mostly men running in 40-degree weather in shorts. A woman runs in what appears to be a two-piece swimsuit. There are many runners early in the morning. Some are just happy to be running. I hear a man chanting “Boomshakalaka, boomshakalaka” as he is running.
I feel sorry for dogs owned by runners who expect them to keep up — especially if the dog is a small one very low to the ground who must take two or three times as many steps as his human owner. I also feel sorry for the woman who runs while her male partner rides a bicycle. It doesn’t seem fair.
Then there are the exercise fanatics as evidenced by the T-shirt “Sore Today, Stronger Tomorrow.” People do jumping jacks on a tennis court. They do pushups and downward facing dog. People do lunges and squats, along with running up and down stairs frontward and sideways. A man uses hand rings at an exercise station while his female partner steps up and down on a railroad tie. Another man does burpees or squat thrusts while his trainer watches, holding the man’s legs with a stretchy band. People swing on monkey bars and run sprints in a parking lot. There are people with hand weights, kettle bells, ropes and yoga mats.
A multitude of other sports are played (usually with one to three people) —soccer, basketball, football, baseball and tennis. A father chips golf shots in a small green space between two trails while his wife and toddler daughter with miniature golf bag and clubs of her own watch. A young man flys a kite with blue wings and blue streamers while his family cheers him on.
The dog walkers are the slowest on the trails because they must wait for their pets to find the perfect spot. In open fields, they throw tennis balls their dogs joyfully retrieve. One man throws objects in the water for his dog to fetch. Three days in a row one man shuffles along in his red plaid bathrobe walking his dachshund. The pièce de résistance is a couple holding a tiny white dog while pushing an empty baby carriage (where the dog apparently had been).
Of all the athletes on the trail, there is only one that deserves the title of the most supreme. Because of its extraordinary powers, none of the aforementioned athletes even belong in its category. It is the most energetic sprinter, high jumper, tumbler, high-wire walker and acrobat — the squirrel.
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