A High 'Runners High' at Southbury, Connecticut

I made the choice to move back from the US to Bangalore over 15 years ago.And from a professional and family perspective I have never regreted the decision. One of the few times that I feel that perhaps I should have lived in the US is when I race in an event here or do an outdoor long run in this country. Today was one such day. I am visiting my Edison office in NJ for a few days. And during the trip I spent this weekend(8th/9th August) at my sister's place in Southbury Connecticut. I had intended to do a 20K training run this morning . I ended up doing 26.5Km in 2hours 35 minutes running solo and I enjoyed the run thoroughly. I started off from my sister's place just before 7am. Though there was hardly any shoulder space in the road that I took there was virtually zero traffic. At about 19 degrees Celsius and partly cloudy the weather was very much like Bangalore weather. I ran about 5Km to reach the Kettletown State Park - did not encounter a single car or human being on the way. On the way I was jolted by a loudly barking dog in front of one of the houses. However, there seemed to be an electronic fence and the dog did not venture onto the road. I ran multiple criss-crossed loops totalling 16Km in about 90 minutes inside the park. There was hardly anyone in the park even at 8am. I thoroughly enjoyed the greenery and the pollution free environment. The air was so fresh and energising - it was extremely enjoyable. I probably hit a High 'Runners High'. I heard lots of chirpy birds and observed a number of large squirrels going across the orad and up and down trees. The route itself was quite tough with several steep gradients. However, I was able to manage a decent pace throughout. On the way back I saw quite a few cars. I was running on a single lane highway - the car drivers kept a good distance from me and did not honk even once. I wish runners in India could get treated with similar respect - it often does not happen even in a road race leave alone during a training run. As I was not carrying any water with me I got quite tired and slowed down in the last 2Kms. However, had I carried water I could have gone on for a few more Kms. Overall I enjoyed the run tremendously - did not feel bored at all running alone.. The fact that it is much easier to do long training runs in this country and that there is encouragement and coaching at school level is probably why there are so many naturally faster runners in this country!