Dim View of UF Streetlights

I got off early from work the other night, around 11 pm. I decided to drive around the University of Florida campus and see whether I could find a well-lit stretch of sidewalk to run on. I had run in the past around the campus in the daytime and had a great time then. My reasoning was that running at night would be better: I could easily find a place to park my car and the temperature would be cooler and more pleasant for a good jog. I wanted at least to be able to have a visible surface to run on so that I could avoid obstacles (and injury).

Well, I drove and drove. Nothing was well-lit, but there were plenty of shadowy shapes (I'm presuming they were UF students) walking around the very dimly lit campus. If I were one of them, I wouldn't be too happy having to walk around late at night with such poor lighting. The street lamps seemed to be of a sickly dampened pink that did precious little to illuminate the area. I tell you, it may have been tough on the students, but it was tougher with me, since I had to be extremely careful to avoid running over some of the human shadows who seemed to leap out into the street from the darkness.

Just as I was getting close to ending my fruitless drive around campus, I approached Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, where the football team plays its home games (and the Goodyear blimp hovers overhead, and the deer and the antelope play). Suddenly, the lighting became very bright around the deserted pigskin coliseum. I looked over to my left at the O'Connell Center, where the basketball team plays its home games. Once again, bright lights bathed this entire deserted area. But once I got to University Avenue and turned right, the crappily-lit gloom returned, and with it, the many shadow figures scurrying about.

Why do I get the feeling that there are two UFs? One is the financially-strapped academic University of Florida with its budget cuts, departmental closings, higher tuition, curtailed student admission and enrollment, and staff layoffs. The other is the Gator Nation, rolling over in money with lavish sums spent on facilities, equipment, and staff.

I can't say whether or not the different emphases on quality night lighting is part of the dichotomy between academics and athletics there. It just struck me as being awfully stupid. What the hell is going on at my old alma mater? In any event, night running there is off. I did run around my block the other night, and I have a well-worn "micro"-course in my backyard that I've run on quite a lot late at night. I guess for the time being that'll have to do.

Oh, by the way, Gainesville city streetlights suck, too! Walking the streets around here at night is like walking through the setting for a horror movie. The only things missing are the zombies!