Sunday, November 28, 2010

West Philly Running

Geoff introduced me to the Fishtown Beer Runners, a group based out of the NE Philly Fishtown neighborhood where, incidentally, my Philadelphia odyssey began over four years ago.  A PhD student, the lore goes, with a proclivity towards running and drinking set out to determine whether there was really any health benefit to drinking water after a run versus, say, drinking a beer.  His experimental results were the foundation for the Beer Runners, finding that a pint of water and equal quantity of beer provided the same amount of hydration, while the beer calories were also beneficial nutrients after a run (and the beer drinkers were generally much happier than the water drinkers).  They gather weekly to run to a nearby bar where they hydrate with a pint or two.  They captured my heart.

West Philly is the place I now call home.  The community, which is generally associated with U Penn, Drexel University and the Fresh Prince is sorely lacking the unifying element of a running group that drinks together.  It would be up to me to bring this to fruition.  So I did. www.WestPhillyRunners.com

Later, I decided to run the Philadelphia half-marathon.  Geoff had nearly convinced me to run the entire marathon. However, at the mile twelve marker, when faced with the decision to go on or conclude my running, I opted to forgo potential bodily harm and sprinted to the finish line.  Geoff ran on, finishing two hours later, a marathoner and [my] hero.  My marathon glory yet awaits me in the future.

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