King(ette) of the Hill

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I spared the troops the mandatory Mother’s Day nature outing and instead started the day as I have so many Sundays: alone, with a welcomed long run listening to retro music on the portable radio. This one felt special, coming off another successful Welcome Committee for the marathoner trainers the prior day and retracing a route I hadn’t done in about four years.

The delayed return to that route was due to memories of a grueling trip back up the final hill that I’d have just as soon avoid after all those miles before. But on Saturday morning the course creator for next weekend’s 5k trail run had mentioned there are a couple of “nice, good hills” on the course, including one at the end, so I decided to simulate that feeling and rediscovered a section of my suburb I’d forgotten. Beautiful homes. Beautiful big homes, lavishly landscaped. And a park bathroom that I found just in a nick of time. Nothing like the gift of good timing.

(This suburb, by the way, is now within a city that's officially the U.S.’s most overpriced housing market. And this after housing prices have fallen for almost a year!)

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