Running Late

There is a very nice black lady who helps school children cross 150th Street. Every morning she sees me running and appreciates my style. The other day I was coming back from my run later than usual because I had run four miles instead of my usual two miles at that hour. She thought that I had run only two miles, but had taken more time because I was tired and exhausted. When I came near her she said, "What is wrong with you? Why are you coming so late?"
 
She had been talking to a man and she told me, "I was just telling my friend that today you have new shoes and you look so nice. Why are you late?" I went twice as far, but this lady thought that I should have come back sooner. She has her own time!
 
-5 December 1978 
 

[Source: "Running Late" in Sri Chinmoy,  Run and Become, Become and Run, Part 1, Agni Press, Jamaica, New York, 1979.]