Resting for Rockefeller

I'm still in a bit of a weakened condition following last Friday's surgery so I figured it would be prudent to skip the run. I showed up and said hi to some of my teammates, and did some push ups with them in my work clothes, but when they took off running I headed home. I saw my friends Alice and Michelle running by me near the Engineer's gate, didn't see them at first as I was engaged in conversation with others, but finally they got my attention as they were about to get up onto the Jackie O. reservoir path.

This Sunday we're going up to Rockefeller, which as I mentioned was very tough last year. I ran with Sonia and Craig for brief stints during that run. Later in the season I would join their pace group, along with Russ and Amy, and the 5 of us ran the first 16 miles of the marathon together. It was my first time ever meeting Craig, who does not have the physique of the typical runner. He is an avid weight lifter and in pretty amazing shape, not to mention a handsome guy, so when I first saw him on the path I figured he must be a jerk. ;-) This was a great illustration of the old saying, "Never judge a book by its cover." We exchanged a few words, and mind you this was 10 or 11 miles into the most brutal run of my life, so there wasn't a long dialogue, but it soon became apparent that he was cool, which should have made me hate him even more, but I quickly realized he was also a nice guy, so I had no choice but to grudgingly like him. :-( After the run was over Sonia took pity on me and gave me a ride to the train station, which is only 300 yards from the parking lot, which tells you how bad I looked.

There is one more interesting thing that happened on the run. Here is the post I made about the incident on our team's Yahoo group the next day:

It's all about the Hamiltons

During the Rockefeller run around the mile 1 mark I spotted a $10 bill on the asphalt, which I bent over and picked up without breaking stride. I think it may have belonged to somebody in the 10:30 group a couple of minutes in front of me, either that or they all have really bad vision. I completely forgot about the bill until later in the afternoon when I was heading down the stairs into the 86th Street 4-5-6 Subway station. At that point I saw this homeless man who frequently stakes out that location, a nice enough seeming guy with long brown hair who is usually hunched over, a little more so today than usual. I have always ignored his requests for alms in the past, but I remembered finding the bill and in my fatigue-induced haze I thought I might generate some TFK donation karma by passing the bill onto him. He was quite appreciative to say the least, but he then took a closer look at me and the way I was limping after the 14 mile run and said, "No sir, you look to be in worse shape than me, you keep it." Ok, that didn't really happen. He thanked me profusely and kept the money, and I felt pretty good about things as I hobbled onto the train.

It occurs me to now that the money might have been somebody's trainfare back to the city, but I really didn't remember when we were back at the camp after the run, my mind being preoccupied with water, food and the radiating pain in my left hip. So, to whoever lost the money, I apologize if you had to spend the night in SleepyHollow and/or walk back to New York. :o)

Bob