Long Run with William

14.38 miles, 2:29:20, 10:23 pace, still cant find HR monitor

I joined Stephanie's group today for a shortened version of their long run. My route inclued Memorial Park, River Oaks and Buffalo Bayou. It was an enjoyable run.

I tagged along with William the whole way and found out a lot about him. I'm not sure why it's so easy to bond during a run. Perhaps it's because the physical effort strips us down closer to our underlying being by distracting us from the mental effort we typically expend building psychological walls isolating us from strangers. Perhaps it's simply the shared experience and lifestyles that prompts us to open up to people "like us". Or perhaps the non-runner would say that a long run is so boring that eventually you have to talk about something!

William is an old fashioned family man with several college-aged kids. I was intrigued by his stint as a lawyer in the Clinton administration and by his involvement in the Buffalo Bayou Board. He gives back to the community and still lives in the neighborhood where he grew up, Houston's Third Ward. William is a good guy, and I walked away inspired by our time together.

Incidentally, I ran through the third ward few times when I lived near Hermann Park, and I really enjoyed those runs. One time when I ended up at TSU I decided on a plan for a "college run." One day in the fall I plan to run through the campuses of:
St. Thomas University
Rice University
Texas Southern University
the University of Houston and
the University of Houston-Downtown

I'm sure there are others I can add to the list and still keep it at no more than a 22-24 mile run. Does anyone know of any other campuses I could add to the list?

today's splits:
8:49, 8:28, 8:20, 9:04, 9:09, 9:37, 9:22, 9:27, 9:28, 9:26, 10:00, 10:37, 11:16, 8:32 for .86 (9:55 pace)

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TDLY - Rest, no blog entry.