Are You Fit?

i'm such a liar. "more to come." actually, i'm not a liar at all - here is more. it's just several weeks later than i originally anticipated. but since i didn't write "more to come later" or “more to come in a day” i'm not a liar at all. hah! i feel so vindicated. anyway, before posting to this blog i enjoy reading my previous post, so that's where i read "more to come" at the very end, but that more never came - until now.

no, i'm not drunk (unlike the previous post). i am high - on a runner's high. i just got done with a "training" run for a couple of races that i have comin' up. this one was sponsored by city sports - although i'm not really sure how it was "sponsored" by them since all we did was meet at their store on boylston st. anyway, it was also "sponsored’ by puma (again, they didn't give out freebies) and harpoon - as their 5 mile road race is coming up in the beginning of june. so before we headed out on the run, the leaders - one from puma and the other from city sports - decided that there was going to be 2 distances, a 3 miler and a 5 miler. i thought i would try the 5 miler, but i didn't commit to anything, until i passed that last bridge. hah! i went out with a couple of guys and a couple of girls, and paired up with one other dude as we headed towards the science museum. armed with my trusty polar hrm, i glanced down and my running partner asked what pace we were clocking. 8:30 - just about right for me for this run, but apparently too fast for him. it was like in top gun when maverick says "i'm gonna hit the brakes and he'll fly right by" and merlin says "you're gonna do WHAT?" the dude practically stopped on a dime, and i was on my own - in no-man's land, trying to bridge an impossible gap. i wasn't able to close the gap, but it wasn't a race so i wasn't too upset. and apparently i was the gap between the 5 miler led by the puma dude and 3 miler, of which i already passed the bridge on memorial drive so i was stuck doing the 5 miler. i still had the 5 mile group in my sights, until we got onto the windy esplanade where i lost sight of which bridge they went over to get back into the back bay area. anyway, to make a long story short (too late, i know), i decided to go with the 5.25 mile group - there was only 1 person in it, me - and ended up in beacon hill, which was about a half mile back to where we started. on my way back (i figured i'd head back in case they were worried about me - i'm sure everyone was wondering "where's dave?") i was making excuse of why i went further like "I didn't know if you guys were going to do a cool down, so i wanted to make sure i got that in." when i got back the 5 mile group was still there (it consisted of 4 people, not including me) and the puma rep who lead it.

i didn't have much to say except "can i get a water," so i was ready to leave after assuring everyone i was still alive (you should have seen the worried faces just as i made it back), and said thanks to the puma rep and the city sports guy (who was maverick hitting the brakes). the puma rep guy then says, "i've seen you around running." now, i love how people communicate - it fascinates me. i've always observed that it's easier to confirm someone's statement or question, and proceed with what you were doing or about to do the second before they opened their mouth. so naturally i said "yeah, i'm sure." i've never seen this dude before, and quite frankly probably will never see him again (he's much faster than me so even at races i won't see him). instead of that being the end of the conversation, or him ending with "well i hope to continue to see ya around" he says "yeah, you run down here with that ethiopian guy." now, kenyan's get all the hype about being the best runners in the world, but there are some pretty amazing ethiopian runners as well - for instance haile gebrselassie. anyway, to be mentioned that i, me, dave papp, run with an ethiopian guy is hilarious - i mean, i probably couldn't ride a segway as fast as an ethiopian guy can run!

what makes this story even more remarkable, and the reason that i'm sitting in my office at this hour having to write this down now, is that i felt similar when i was hanging out with my friend julie, who visited in april to run the boston marathon. julie is an awesome runner, who has even won a marathon OVERALL, and is very involved in the sport. julie knows some people at brooks running, who are great guys, and we visited their booth at the expo the day before the marathon. we talked to a couple of guys specifically, both who exceed at marathons - 1 of who was running boston and the other that was pacing him since he ran london and placed in the top 20! so needless to say, i felt intimidated, but both asked, "are you running boston?" i guess it's not that strange of a thing to ask while at a marathon expo, but along with all the talk about "are you fit?" and racing strategies it made me laugh and feel pretty good.

oh, so my response to the puma rep who said i run with the ethiopian guy was a mumbled "i... don't... know..." and a quick departure from the store.