rain day....

The banks of the Cumberland overflowed last May after days and days of very heavy rain. Since I moved to Clarksville, it has seemed like it has rained 2 or 3 days every week - sometimes more. According to the natives, this spring has been a little like last year. We were sent home on Tuesday afternoon and work was cancelled on Wednesday due to severe thunderstorms and the threat of tornadoes. The river is expected to flood but only the farmland along the western bank. The businesses along the eastern bank will be spared this year. Most of them have just recently recovered from last years flood. Wednesday will be a good day for reading and laundry.

murray, ky......

I drove to Murray, KY last weekend and ran in the inaugural Murray Half Marathon. Murray is about 90 minutes northwest from Clarksville. It was a pretty drive and the time flew by. It's a very nice town and it is the home of Murray State University. The half marathon was on Saturday morning and with the exception of the 25 mph wind, the weather was perfect. When I first moved to Clarksville, I was having a hard time getting up in the morning and doing solo runs in a strange area. I signed up and used this race as motivation to run regularly and to follow some sort of training schedule. They plan on having the race every April and I'm going to make the yearly trek. It was fun.

look what i found....

I joined the Clarksville Running Club a month ago but I haven't hooked up with them yet for a run. More on that in a later post. I do get the newsletter and there has been a mention of the Clarksville Greenway. No one at work had heard of it so I did the Googles and found it. It turns out that it is about 2 miles from my apartment so I drove out to see it. It is an old railroad track that they paved over and created this path. If you've never seen Clarksville, it's hard to understand how wonderful this greenway is. I walked a mile and back on it this afternoon and I'm thinking "holy cow - where am I?" It's about 4.5 miles from one end to the other. I already plan on coming out here early one weekend day and running on it.

what? no pottersville?.....

I haven't driven extensively around the area but I have done a fair bit of exploring. One thing that has struck me is the commonality in town names. For your enjoyment, I will list some nearby towns. See if you can see a common theme....Clarksville, Nashville, Millersville, Evansville, Centerville, Adairville, Hendersonville, Hopkinsville, Smithville, Gordonsville, Goodlettsville, Greenville, Nortonville, Huntsville, Madisonville, Hawasville, Allensville, New Johnsonville, Lobelville, Decaturville, Henryville, Campbellsville, Comersville, Shelbyville and McMinnville. I haven't run across Old Johnsonville yet but it's probably out there somewhere.

driving me crazy...

I have a couple of observations about Clarksville drivers. On the one hand, a yellow light means stop. In Austin, if you stopped for a yellow light, you would be rear ended. I think it was a function of the traffic. The frustration level really grows when the traffic is creeping and it seems you are just going from light to light. You get to the point that a yellow or red light wasn't going to get in the way of progress. You start to drive accordingly for defensive purposes. When I first arrived here, I would speed up when I saw a yellow. I would look in my rearview mirror and see everybody stopped - even the people in the neighboring lanes that were a little ahead of me. I have adapted. On the other hand, it seems like no one drives in this town without a phone in their ear. Hands free technology hasn't made it to this part of Tennessee. I will admit that I will chat now and then so I really don't know what my point is! I just thought it was an interesting item.

play ball....

Robins have been flying around Clarksville for a few weeks and the trees are finally starting to bud. The temperature is still in the lower 40's at night but Spring is definitely in the air. This weekend also marks the start of baseball season. In terms of baseball in the area, Austin Peay has a team. I checked out a game a couple of weeks ago and I'm sure I'll go again before the season is over. Nashville has a Triple-A team so that might be fun. For major league teams, this is National League country. Clarksville is equidistant between Cincy, Atlanta and St Louis. I think a road trip to see the Reds might be in my future.