Philadelphia Tour - 7 miles

Garmin Link
6.87 miles
8:59 moving pace

Made plans to meet my friend Paul for a run Sunday. We were only going to do about three miles, so I decided to run down to his house in Queen Village - one of the old Federal-era parts of town.

We weren't meeting until 10:00, so I left the house at about 9:20. It was already in the mid-80s and very humid. The route I chose went through an old industrial and warehouse section of town - Washington Avenue - and there were no trees or other sources of shade at all. I managed to keep close to an 8:00 pace, and hit 4 miles at the end of Paul's block. Paul gave me a cold bottle of water, which revived me before we started out again along the I-95 overpass beside the Delaware River.

As we ran, Paul pointed out the neighborhoods we were passing every few blocks: Queen Village, Society Hill, Old City, Penn's Landing, Chinatown, Logan Square, and Fairmount. Paul says he can tell the different neighborhoods by smell. That's certainly true of Chinatown, with all the restaurants and fish markets - especially when the temp and humidity are up.

Of course we also passed within sight of the Betsy Ross house, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. We finally staggered to a halt a few hundred yards shy of the Art Museum, and wandered over to Rittenhouse Square after stopping at Starbucks for some cool drinks. I don't remember the last time I've sweated like that.

Walked home, and got soaked to the bone by a thunderstorm. Although it was less than 7 miles, I was so wiped out that I fell asleep on the couch Sunday afternoon. I'm not much of a napper, so that is unusual.