Marin #5

Saturday, 7 miles in 59:51

I had to spend a few tedious hours in the lab today, and when I got home Silas was waking up from an abbreviated nap. We let off some steam by reading a Woodie Guthrie book, The New Baby Train, and then he brought me my shoes, so it was time to run. This was a 5 block attack on Marin Ave, going up to Spruce St. I had not been looking forward to this last block, which I will have to run 8 more times, because it appears abruptly steeper than the previous block, and I measure it as a 16% grade. Not coincidentally, this was also my pace in minutes per mile for the 4:57 that I spent running from The Circle to Spruce St, not that anyone's counting. Spruce St also represents, more or less, the midpoint in elevation between the Greenway and the top of the road. And, of course, I lived on Spruce St in Philly, so it holds a special place in my heart.

I normally take the steep downhill back into town at a pretty cautious pace, but with Silas in the stroller shouting "Whee!" I may have picked up the pace a bit.