Four ruckers and three runners went out to survey what Ida had wrought on Valley Forge Park. The first hint of possible trouble was the mud caked parking lot. The intrepid hikers went down towards the tow path while the runners headed up over Sullivan’s Bridge to the Chapel trail.

Besides some audio-visual hijinks, the ruckers found a lot of downed trees along a muddy path where the prior gravel had either been buried under silt or washed away. The runners found things easier going besides the usual large puddles by the old ranger housing. The surface was very soft and the downed trees that had barricaded the path before had all been removed.

The hype piece on slack for today’s run or ruck was a picture of Muhammad Ali looking over his shoulder while on a training run. It is an image that stays with YHC. Ali is regarded by many, including famously himself, to be the GOAT or Greatest Of All Time. YHC has watched a few of his fights, you can still find a few of them on youtube if you are interested. The heavyweight division has changed a lot since Ali’s prime, but his movement, elusiveness, intelligence, power and almost sickening ability to take punishment are best on display by watching him in his element.

As time has passed, and a lot has passed since Ali was relevant in the ring, he has undergone a repackaging, a Hollywoodization and a hagiography has replaced his biography. His fights edited into jump cuts to make him look like a titan of the ring for whom winning was the foregone conclusion. For all of his talent, Ali honed himself one training session at a time. He built upon yesterday’s training session to try to get better today. His sessions were not perfect. Nor were his fights. However, he strove ever further. YHC thinks of that picture sometimes when on a long solo run, beckoning, to go ever further.