Unofficial Start of Fall

No, we do not live in perpetual spring. These fall-blooming bushes
make the transition to winter a little easier.

The low black clouds were seemingly just a few miles west of us when Daisy Duke and I went out for a mid-afternoon run. Better get in a quick couple of miles before the rain comes.

We hoofed it for the first half mile up a hill. In Utah, going 10 or 15 minutes up a hill constituted gaining 1,000 feet in elevation. We top out around 300 feet here, but it's still enough to knock the wind out of you – especially when you're a chocolate Lab who can't sweat.

The humidity is around 80 percent and the dew point is at 66. Sweat is quite literally in the air.

The leaves started going red
two freaking weeks ago, when
this picture was taken.
We passed Ruski's, the dive bar populated by actual blue-collar people on weekdays and ironic hipsters with tattoos on weekends. I watched them open at 6 a.m. one morning to let in an old-timer who just got off the night shift. I like to think that's why he was there, to have a PBR or two before trying to sleep through the day before going back to work on the docks; it was probably just the prep cook.

Those big black clouds were definitely raining somewhere. You could see the strands of gray rain dropping down to the ground in the distance. Daisy Duke and I went up the Western Prom, inarguably the most agonizing climb on the run. A high school cross country running team came jogging down the hill. Their coach was at the top, shouting out times and encouragement. She smiled as Daisy Duke and I jogged past.

We picked up the pace across the Western Prom. You can see for miles up there, all the way to Mt. Washington, the tallest mountain in the Northeast. I'd always meant to ski there when I was a ski columnist briefly last winter but I never made it up there. Too much hassle coming up from Boston. Now I can see it from the Western Prom.

Those dark clouds were lazy today. They hadn't moved in 25 minutes. Daisy Duke and I turned and ran through the Western Prom park again. There was a slow thump of thunder off in the distance. It's raining somewhere, just not here.

These days will not last. The leaves will change colors and parking will get crazy in January when the snow drifts stick out into the street.

But today those black clouds just stood out to the west, slowly loping past Portland's peninsula while it rains everywhere else. That was fine with Daisy Duke. She only likes water from below that she can jump in. When it rains she lays on her back on the couch, paws splayed in the air. Occasionally, she lets off a big sigh.

Daisy Duke panted steadily. On the last half mile, she was several feet behind me as I dragged her toward the finish line. I won't have the advantage of sweat glands much longer. As the temperature cools, Daisy Duke runs harder. For one day, at least, I still had the advantage.

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