The race12

This morning at 4:30, when I made a turn off 150th Street onto the Grand Central service road at the half-mile mark, I passed a very thin, old man who was half drunk and very dirty.

He said to me, “I can beat you walking.” I smiled at him. Then he started walking very fast for forty metres, but I was still a little ahead of him.

Then I told him, “You run. I can beat you walking.”

So he started running and I started walking. I stayed behind him deliberately; otherwise, I could have easily defeated him.

He said, “Oh, now we are even.” He could not defeat me when he was walking and I could not beat him when I was walking.


RB 76. 26 September 1979