THE LINE IS chalk, white, with fading edges that disintegrate into dust, and it floats upward as it approaches the edge of the paved path. Just below it, there’s a large uneven ‘0’. As I pass over the line and run on, I wonder where the next one will be.
When it comes, it announces itself as the line for ‘400’, confirming that these are markers for workout intervals. Now I’m curious to see how many track quarters are marked; or if the maker, like me, enjoys reaching a line in the distance and turning around to go back to ‘0’ again and again, not really going anywhere, but covering a distance within a confined space.
I imagine a runner, bent over, carefully writing the numbers. Under the chalk, gravel…
