Comparatively Speaking

Like last Saturday, met up with the Philly Runners at the PMA, this time at 8:00 instead of 9:30. This is a welcome change if you ask me, as temps will continue to rise. There's also something nice about finishing at 9:30 as opposed to 11:00. Seebo showed up and we split off from the rest of the group, opting for some shade and a brief hill along MLK. Even though I thought we were moving faster, the rest of the group mirrored us on the path for the first 20 minutes or so, owing to some creakiness in both of our legs. Mine has to do with yesterday's activities, Seebo's in transition mode between training cycles, having recently returned from a tropical getaway.

Probably the best part of the run was the conversation. Some prerun tea had me spouting out all kinds of stories about the Ontonagon Boulder (the name slipped my tongue), the collapse of Easter Island civilization, and wildlife population control. Pretty random assortment of topics, and they continued to come as the pace of the run increased. A few interesting comparisons were made, including winter running vs. summer running, beer vs. water, and Furness vs. Sullivan. Perhaps the most daring was to contrast the psychotropic effects of running and cigarette smoking. Ron joined us for a stretch, breaking up the dorkiness with talk of urban triathlon, an obstacle course race through a large city.

Apparently I hit the 'stop' button instead of the 'split' button at Fall's Bridge so I lost any useful data my watch might have given me. At the PMA I continued solo-style onto the river trail, though I might as well be honest and publish that I had an overwhelming desire to stop. I wanted to get in 1:30 on my feet and the last half hour felt like a chore. Looping around through Rittenhouse Square and back up the Parkway, ending at the water fountain at Lloyd Hall, I tacked on 3.5 miles to the 8.5 mile loop, making it a 12 mile day. Piecing together the split to the bridge (~34:xx) and the time it took for the extension, I'll call it 1:35. Walked it back to my bike and took a leisurely, and very refreshing, ride home through cool breezes. Wasn't till I got home that I realized how parched I'd become (I downed a couple glasses of water and some tea before running and never had to empty the bladder, where usually I'm stopping at least twice to do so), and I'm blaming this for the sluggishness in the final miles. Comparatively speaking, a very good morning.