Two Worlds Collided

Another Sunday long run {14 miles} in the books  a second week of 5 days/40mpw w/ 2 repeats under my belt too....start as you mean to go on!

Thankfully the hail which later gave way to rain on Saturday had now gone,just grey and overcast conditions when I got out the door just gone 11.25am
A funny thing happened  roughly 3.5 miles into the run,I usually bitch and complain about how I'm always "swimming against the tide" running on West River Drive on Sundays during my long run when I became cognisent of foot steps behind me....I antispated said runner to blow by me leaving me in his or her wake but instead he drew along side me.
Gene asked me how far I was running,I said as this was my Sunday long run 14 miles and I'd probably "do the loop" although last week and six weeks earlier I'd  made the turnaround at Falls Bridge as from a psychological standpoint I felt if I could grind out 7 miles one way I could turnaround and do 7 more in the oposite direction but at some point in time I'd have to bite the bullet and "do the loop"......today seemed as good a day as any!

Over the next 6.5 miles Gene and I swapped our respective running "war stories" as we made our way up West River Drive,over Falls Bridge and down Kelly Drive towards Lloyd Hall.
Gene is about to run his third marathon in a few weeks time,and while I don't envy him tackling a 26.2 I do envy the fact it's in sunny and warm Bermuda while I'll be here freezing my nads off on the frigded Eastern Seaboard!!!
I told Gene some of my marathon stories,I'd like to think of more as helping the miles fly by rather than bragging, I also mentioned some of my post marathon track exploits.
The upshot of which was Gene asked if I'd be willing to speak  to some of the Run Philly Student runners Gene works w/.

Like Charles Barkley famously said "I am not a role model"  but I'd like to think as I now embark on my 39th season of competitve running that hopefully I have a wealth of running knowledge that may be useful to a new breed of runners just starting out,don't get it twisted I'm not saying I'm a running encyclopedia on all things running but over 38 years I've learnt what to do and what not to do where running is concerned and if I can pass any of that on to a fellow runner/runners then I'll feel I've given something back to a way of life that has enriched my life in ways I can't discribe.

When I continued my run home as Gene pealed off to wait for his second loop partner I was cognisent of my lack of knee lift and or leg turnover......and w/ good reason when I arrived home  at 1.02pm my time for 14 miles was a whopping 1.36 a far cry from the 2.12 I had ground out the previous Sunday......

I'll be checking the results of the Bermuda Marathon in two weeks time to see if Gene pr's,I wish him all the best not just w/ Bermuda but hopefully other great Marathons that I had the privilge to run  during my Marathon career between 85 and 05,New York,Chicago and Boston.