Running Granny sightings!

It's late at night, so time for a very random blog...

Every work day at exactly 4:20 pm, we at the Venture Outdoors office look forward to an unusal, yet very consistent Pittsburgh event. That is the one and only Running Granny.

For one thing, she is probably not that old, but she certainly runs like a "granny". All decked out in her work attire under a trenchcoat with big sunglasses over a slightly fake-looking makeup job...clutching her purse with one arm while swinging the other in time with her shuffling old lady shoe shorn feet, her stiffly hairsprayed hair slightly flowing back in the wind of her passage (that was probably the longest run-on sentence I've ever almost completed).

For another thing, she runs the same route every day. We await her coming from the west out of Market Square coming down Forbes. She then turns left onto Wood, crosses the street half-way down the block, then cuts back up in the opposite direction towards the intersection. She runs on the sidewalk, then down the side of the street. She crosses traffic yet again, heedless of the PAT bus that narrowly missed its mark. She runs up past our windows out of sight, then pops back into view as she crosses Forbes yet again near the Rite-Aid Pharmacy and then we lose sight of her for good...until 4:20 the next day.

My co-worker says that he saw her every lunch time on the North Shore during his weekly fishing program Tri-Anglers. There have been reports that she works at the brick building across the street from PNC Park. One time we were moving a vehicle out of Kayak Pittsburgh (also on the North Shore) and we almost ran over the poor dear.

But the funny thing is...she NEVER STOPS RUNNING... I haven't seen that woman stop or stand still yet. I wonder if she's OCD and/or paranoid. I wonder why she runs and if so, if she's running from something? Perhaps someone will one day run beside her and ask. Until then, I will enjoy my daily break from the grind by watching the same thing that happens every day.

But IS it the same thing everyday? As consistent as the "granny" may be, there are times where she slightly deviates from her course. Either a car is coming her way or a person throws her off. It's these nuances that one picks up on while one is observing the granny. One can't help but admire the determination (or insanity) to replicate a process such as the one granny undertakes. We can all learn from the granny I think...lessons for life.

In the words of Sean as he passed said person one day..."go Granny!"