"Thank God for the rain to wash the trash off the sidewalk"

A quote from Travis Bickle in the movie Taxi Driver.

I saw the movie last night and the quote came up in our running conversation today. I've realized this summer what an apt metaphor it is. The rain from the last few days has finally removed some of the stink from the streets around here. The heat and humidity provide ideal grounds for all sorts of stuff to fester (one of my favorite English words) and also facilitates a spike in the fly population. A guy I knew even said that during hot, humid dry spells like these he could smell the accumulated dog urine everywhere. Anyway, you get the picture.

Thus a run like today, after a good soaking rain this morning, felt cleansing and cooler, although the humidity was right up there again. Me, IC and SK, whom I haven't run with in months, did the bloody nipple the way it was supposed to be run - uphill. IC is starting to refer to the BN in human (and not altogether platonic) terms. I ran out to the Art Museum, met the other two, ran up Kelly over the BN and onto Ford, Montgomery & then Belmont roads. My buddies left me at Memorial hall, and I plodded home. The Negro Leagues mural on Belmont & Parkside is finally finished. It came out good, especially since the colors are fresh and vibrant, and the mural, with lots of action poses of old Negro League ballplayers (the site sits on where the ballfield used to be that the Philadelphia Stars played in), lets the formerly nondescript corner radiate energy.

Could have used some of that energy myself. I bit off a little more than I could chew today and really plodded the last two miles home. sueandpaulling the course says its almost 14 (13.8) miles, I'll call it 14 as in plotting out this course you can't help but cut corners. Total time was 1:46.23.

If you want to check out the course map go here (and zoom out the map a bit). The satellite photography is pretty cool. I plotted the course clockwise, but I ran it counterclockwise.