Day 6 February 27, 2008
When I sum my total mileage for the first five legs of my thru-run of Upper Darby, I see that I have already completed the equivalent of a marathon (26.2 miles). Since the running was spread over a couple of weeks, I have suffered none of the debilitating aftereffects, but it serves as another measure of what it will take to complete this endeavor. Since I’m coloring a map after each run with a highlighter, I make a quick visual calculation. The estimate of my final total makes me grimace: fifteen marathons. This isn’t the first time that I have set out with a simple, romantic plan that grows quickly into an arduous task. This journey may not be of Herculean or Promethean proportions but I predict that there will be slogging later.
Running down the three blocks of South Madison Avenue that I had missed (see Day 5), I’m noticing trees this morning. A few old evergreens in front lawns make me imagine that they were once live Christmas trees, planted in the new year and staying long after the celebrants have moved on, or passed on. A huge old sycamore with a central trunk more than a yard thick splits into four sub-trunks, each of which would be a formidable tree. A soaring tulip tree that I see while approaching West Chester Pike is bristling with vines high above the three story houses. This fountain of vines still carries deep green leaves while the tree’s branches poking out of the tangle are bare. Crossing the Pike I run between two eight foot stumps of shorn pine trees. Why were they left there limbless in the median, their wounds still oozing sap?
A wide loop to run three missed, short blocks takes me again past Observatory Field, then west on the Pike and down South Kirklyn Avenue. I come out at Lansdowne Avenue and run the Harwood and Brighton one block, loop neighborhood. I cross in front of Har Jehuda Cemetery and run another small, three block neighborhood that is sandwiched between Lansdowne and Naylor’s Run. I cross over again to run the Saints’ Loop (Anthony and Joseph) around the old Lukens Mansion. This 19th century building was once a large estate, then an inn, then a restaurant which failed, and now houses a computer services company. The business’s huge sign mars the stately old facade while the surrounding parking lot and townhouses encroach on its remaining dignity.
In my final mile as I run down Beverly Boulevard, I hear behind me the ominous sound of rapidly approaching, jangling dog tags. In my twenty years of running this is always an adrenaline pumping moment. Apprehensively I swivel to meet my canine opponent, but the road is empty. I look down at what seems to be a moving oil stain on the pavement. It is a “squog,” a dog the size of a squirrel. He is smaller than my shoe. These are the only dogs I could ever outrun and I show him that I still can.
Distance: 4.84 miles Time: 47 min 57 sec Pace: 9:54 min/mile
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