Running Update: Yeah so I’m not going to be racing much during cross season, maybe a few tune up races. They’ve got the 5000 indoors so I’ll start then. Ill just be training on my own, staying healthy, building up a base.
So I was out with my new training partner, my man Matt, on our long run so I decided to take him out to the Belmont 5 mile course made by my high school coaches father, Saint Clair. So as we were finishing up the downhill after Parachute (Or Suicide Hill for those real runners out there) and heading into the back part when I see this old man running. He asks if I'm running the 5 mile course and I say yes and he says he is too, so we start talking and I find out his name, Gary Fanelli. He is soon to be 59, still runs, and said he was once and Olympic marathoner which was what really caught my attention. Been running on that course for 40 years, and him and the coach at Philly U are trying to get the back part cleared up so we can run easier. After doing the course with him (kind of slow pace, figured I’d give matt some time to recover) and as we come back to the flat ground I see that its time for Matt and I to pick it up because we have to get back. I tell him goodbye and we have to go, so I'm going to pick it up and be out. I start striding out, and low and behold, but who decides to follow but Gary, and though he has a shorter jerkier stride he is able to keep up. Sadly though, Matt was still burnt, so we had to slow down, but man were we rolling. He also said he knew my distance coach at UPenn.
So of course the first thing I do when I get back to my dorm is look this guy up. And boy was I surprised with what I found:
He’s the guy in the middle.
Apparently not only was he really in the Olympics, but he ran a sick 2:14 and ran marathons in crazy costumes. That would explain why he was still able to pick it up though. That's crazy.
Reuben
