Let me start with the day before the run. After the long flight from California to Hong Kong I knew day 1 in China would be a challenge. I had no idea it was going to be such a day. I woke up at my typical first day time of 2:30am. I tried to go for a run but the hotel I was staying in had no good access to running and the gym didn't open until 6:00am. I had to leave the hotel a 6:45am to catch the train. The day in China was typical for the first day. Meetings to catch up with the factories. First factory was the production factory. Second Factory was the midsole supplier. Then there was the required factory dinner and then the long drive to the hotel. I finally checked in at the hotel at 12:00am the next day.
I slept hard and was ready to roll at 6:00am on the run. I have a fairly standard first day run that takes me over the river and then along the quite boardwalk until I cross the river again and come back to the hotel. I was about 20 minutes into my run feeling ok but not trying to push it. The boardwalk is always full of morning people. People doing one form of exercise or another. There are plenty of runners. I was approaching one of the runners. He was dressed in shorts (casual dress) and a t-shirt and he was running in some brand of court shoe. As I pulled up along side him, without looking over he began to half step me. In other words he wasn't going to let me pass. So I returned the 1/2 step. He did the same. I did the same. He did the same. At some point I gave up and decided to see how long he could hold the pace. We are now running sub 6 min/mile. We run for close to 10 minutes. I got to my bridge crossing and was kind of relieved. He looked over with a big grin on his face. I simply applauded loud. As I went up the stairs of the bridge I glanced down and he had slowed down to a pedestrian pace.
I simply love the sport of running. The energy it brings to my life every day and the experiences it gives me. I've been lucky to run all over the world and in every place I find myself in awe of the experience and the people I get to share it with. It's not about shoes, it's not about distance it's simply the pure beauty that is running.
It's a good life....
Dave
2 comments:
The first time I visited Herzo, Ace took me on a run around some of the local trails. I had just read Pitch Invasion and probably asked him 20 questions about historical facts of the Dassler family. He calmly answered each one - probably a little less than enthused at my level of excitement and energy. At some point during the run, he turned to me and said: 'Scott, if you don't stop half stepping me, I am going to f*cking turn around and leave you out here where you will have no idea how to get home!' Of course this was said with a slight smile on the the edge of his face.
enjoy your run this weekend Super and hopefully a sunset with the family.
-schilter
That's a great story Scott. The problem with that story is Ace would have never stopped. He has that unique ability to suffer beyond reason and isn't afraid to pull out his suffer tool when he feels he needs it.
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