I took a run through Strawberry Canyon this afternoon, up and along the ridge, and back down again beneath the canopy of trees hugging the creek. I have only run it a few times since my trainer, Peter Day, and I ran it earlier this summer.
As I trudged the ascent metering my rythym, a towering, demi-god of man came flying down the hill. With curling black locks in the wind he stormed past me stamping down the trail like a horse in full gallop.
“That’s always a great feeling at the end of the run, ” I thought to myself, “barreling down with whatever you have left to burn.”
As I continued up, settling into my stride for the next hour, I heard that galloping again, coming up from behind, and at nearly the same clip. He lost me over the next few turns in the shades of deciduous, and I could only think to myself again that he must have started up on the ridge and was now on a return leg.
When I had run this with Peter, we talked about many things, one of which was his email address.
“Thumos?”, I asked. “What made you decide on that for your address?”
“Achilles wrestled with it.” Peter replied. “It has been described as spirit, the principle of life, feeling and thought, passion, anger, joy, even grief. It was that inner dialogue with his thumos that finally spurred him to action.”
I knew Peter was the right trainer for me that day.
Up on the ridge it’s flat and twists along the top of the Berkeley Hills for another 2 miles or so, with inspiring view of the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate, and Mt Tamalpais. It was an awesome experience today.
Well about 35 minutes into the run, here comes the Greek god again! He must have been going for a 15 miler. Irrepressible!
Now true, I am probably at least 15 years his senior, and nearly a foot shorter, but I am a decent runner. This guy was just incredible.
Thumos.
Strawberry, C2C. Time: 40:13/1:10:59