Talking smack

Sometimes I find that several hours pre-run (say... like 12 or so), I'm all psyched for it and thinking that I'll kick it's ass. Sometimes I'll even talk a little smack to my run - "Hey run... just wait... few more hours and I'm gonna trounce ya!"... and then sometimes I'll even kind of lunge forward a little bit to scare it... but it never flinches. My run is Ivan Drago.



That happens a lot. And then I get out there and it's a bit of a different story. More on that later.

Today I arranged to meet Ashley in the parking lot of Tinicum so we could run the figure eight loop together. I feel a little dirty as I write this. I haven't told Amy about Ashley yet. I don't know why... it's stupid. Compared to Amy, Ashley means nothing to me! I worry that Amy will think I'm "replacing" her with Ashley - when nothing could be further from the truth. I know Amy sometimes reads this blog and I don't want her to find out about Ashley by reading my blog... that would be wrong. I will call her tonight, confess my sins, and hope that she'll still have me as a friend and running partner. Seebo laughs at me... says I'm being ridiculous. But I know better.

Anyway... back to the run. I met Ashley around 9am - it was already pretty warm and very sunny. We headed out into Tinicum. As I expected, there wouldn't be much wildlife today since it was already late morning. We did see a few fellow runners, which is a rare sighting at Tinicum. So Ashley had to take my word for it that I often see lots of bunnies, deer, the occasional fox, turtles, and wild turkey.

When Ashley originally posted on Philly Runner's board, she said she runs a 9 minute mile... but I think she was selling herself short. When I run with her, we do under a nine minute pace (today was about 8:45) and I swear she is barely even breathing hard. Me... on the other hand.... I'm really having to push it. It was tolerable in the shade, but the sunny spots were rough. Of course I couldn't slow down too much or **God Forbid** stop, so I just sucked it up and kept up. I tried to remind myself that Seebo was doing 20 miles today and that I should just shut up and run. Still, on some of those sunny stretches, I could hear Drago in my ear:



I was glad when it was over - as usual. It was a good run - challenging, but good. This hip is - Eh... no better, no worse.

Including the jaunt from my place to Tinicum - and then the loop - just under 9 miles (8.93) in 77:50.