Vomero

Ran 6.2 miles on treadmill, 7:16 average pace (6:58 incline adjusted); middle 4.2 at 6:56 average pace (6:43 incline adjusted - first/last mile at 3.0-5.0 incline, middle 4.2 at 2.0). Scored a pair of Nike Vomeros, hard to find, brand new, Marathon Sports had a few. Pretty nice/smooth ride, pretty soft, almost too much so, but fine, not terribly different from the Skylons. Shin was slightly worse for wear at first, but later (after the usual NSAIDs and icing) seemed pretty good. Maybe/hopefully these new shoes will be kinder to my shin (por favor). Starting to feel stronger, like I can just go out and bang out 5-7 milers no problem, on a daily basis, if the shin would just get better I could totally rock.

Overheard in the locker room today, an older Chinese man, naked, chatting with another older Anglo man, just casually chatting, didn't seem to know each other particularly well. The Anglo man politley signs off, says he's gotta get to the swimming. Then the Chinese man says casually, "Oh, I do have one question for you." I figured he'd be asking when the next spin class was or something, but instead — "When did you realize that this is it, that you will not live forever. Someday, you will die."

Catches my ear, of course, I realized this at about 8 years of age, and have never stopped thinking about it. The Chinese man confesses to the Anglo that it came to him quite late, just within the past few years really. And then goes on to tell him how he lost his father and two of his four children — a 21 year old daughter, murdered 20 years ago (by her boyfriend who, for days after, before being found out, pretended to look for her killer; I'm trying not to visibly grimace at this point.) And he lost his 40-something year old son just last summer.

Wow, nothing special really, I guess, but so seldom do you hear such candid conversations in public spaces, unfortunately. It's a big big world, so many people, with so many stories, pain, sorrows. We should share more. I should share more.