Dubist Langsam wrote:
N-in-H - thank you for this thread. Your words have stirred a long forgotten yearning in my deepest pathos. I too have been challenged, both mentally and physically. None more so than an early morning tempo run along the Housatonic river in late June 1998...
Deep in intense concentration at a pace I could myself not fathom I was enduring, feeling the wisp of an occasional tiger lilly leaf against my taut thighs - when suddenly a silent whir sped past me. It was an older gentleman in a recumbent bicycle. I caught his stare in his side view mirror and new the chase was on. For five or six hundred meters we battled. I could see the energy in his half-tights - he was more powerful and I more youthful.
About 20 meters before the commuter lot he took a side path and waived in what I thought was contempt, but would later learn was begrudging admiration. That man would become my silent mentor for three seasons.
He eventually betrayed me, which is why I have many pent up feelings to draw from no matter the distance. This has helped shape every fiber of my life. It will do so for you as well. Your journey is only beginning.
This is very Jonathan Franzen. 9/10.