Verdance
Deirdre and I headed out to the suburbs this morning for something different. We went to Bryn Mawr to see if anyone was running at 8 (there wasn't) and instead we did a little warmup of about 3.5 and got back to the store to see if anyone was running at 8:30. We had better luck then, as five people showed as well as a guy on a bike to do the 9.8 mile Tennis loop. Looking back in my old logs, I see I used to run this loop regularly on weekends in 2002 and some in 2003, when I got to know a lot of folks up there.
It is always a culture shock to run this loop, because it goes by some incredibly huge houses and the affluence there is quite the culture shock when you're used to running the streets of SW Philly. Its also a different kind of running - negotiating narrow shoulders on the roads and whizzing cars who think they are entitled to the whole road. It puzzles me how people are so obsessed with safety related to inner city running when running out in the burbs strikes me as far more dangerous.
There is far less building going on now than there was on that loop six years ago, when the economy was much more booming and whole lots were getting leveled so that larger houses could be erected. This was always nice because construction sites always had porta-potties that, in the suburbs, never get locked. The verdance of the area was still there however, and a leafy canopy shielded us from the sun for at least two thirds of this loop. This is a huge plus for a hot morning like it was today, and almost compensates for all those hills.
And the company was good. Along with me and Deirdre there was a woman Mary, a guy Max who I met last Tuesday, and a high school kid. About two thirds of the way through the loop me and the kid picked things up a bit and I figured since the mileage would be a little light today I might as well ride the testosterone. This is where doing all those BN loops pay off, as I held out pretty well on the hills. I did choose to cool down the last half mile where the kid kept going to the end, as a result I finished the loop in just over 70 minutes - not my fastest time for this loop but doing a pretty good clip. I was drenched in sweat on the ride home.
Call it 13+ miles total in 98:02.
It is always a culture shock to run this loop, because it goes by some incredibly huge houses and the affluence there is quite the culture shock when you're used to running the streets of SW Philly. Its also a different kind of running - negotiating narrow shoulders on the roads and whizzing cars who think they are entitled to the whole road. It puzzles me how people are so obsessed with safety related to inner city running when running out in the burbs strikes me as far more dangerous.
There is far less building going on now than there was on that loop six years ago, when the economy was much more booming and whole lots were getting leveled so that larger houses could be erected. This was always nice because construction sites always had porta-potties that, in the suburbs, never get locked. The verdance of the area was still there however, and a leafy canopy shielded us from the sun for at least two thirds of this loop. This is a huge plus for a hot morning like it was today, and almost compensates for all those hills.
And the company was good. Along with me and Deirdre there was a woman Mary, a guy Max who I met last Tuesday, and a high school kid. About two thirds of the way through the loop me and the kid picked things up a bit and I figured since the mileage would be a little light today I might as well ride the testosterone. This is where doing all those BN loops pay off, as I held out pretty well on the hills. I did choose to cool down the last half mile where the kid kept going to the end, as a result I finished the loop in just over 70 minutes - not my fastest time for this loop but doing a pretty good clip. I was drenched in sweat on the ride home.
Call it 13+ miles total in 98:02.
posted by seebo | 12:41 PM
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