She's Got the Right Idea

My second half marathon is in the books. It was a MUCH different race than my first for, oh, I don't know, 100 different reasons. But I'll talk about that later. I just have one quick story I want to share with you first, because I love it so much.

It's somewhere between mile 2 and mile 3, on a walking interval of my run/walk plan. I hear this really funny, choppy gait coming up behind me. I can tell the stride is VERY short and the feet are not striking the ground in a normal way. They're sort of scuffing the pavement ... like the motion you'd make if you were trying to put a black mark on a floor with a shoe. Skidding the toe of your foot and stopping it abruptly.

All I can think is that it sounds like a little kid. Or someone who has no idea how to really run, because that just can't be comfortable.

It gets closer and closer and as it pulls up along-side me, I see that it is a teeny, tiny woman with gray/white hair. She's old. Very old. And she's all decked out in fancy running gear. I can tell immediately that she's been a runner for a long time. This is very clearly not her first rodeo.

She's tan, her hair is a short, no-fuss-no-muss style. She has wire-rim glasses. She immediately puts me in mind of a university professor for some reason.

(I don't want you to miss these important facts: She's old. She just passed me.)

She gets in front of me a bit and then she walks. Then she runs a few hundred feet. Then walks. And keeps repeating this pattern.

At mile 3, it's time for me to start running again. So I fire up, and eventually catch her. Just as I get ready to pass her, she looks over her shoulder, past me, back into the pack.

"Don't worry!" I say. "There are a LOT of people still behind us," I cheerfully reassure her.

"Oh," she says with a slight German accent. "I'm not worried about that," she keeps talking as she continues to search for something back there.

Then she turns her head fully toward me and adds, "I'm looking for my husband. I just can't let him catch up to me."

It's all I can do to not burst out laughing.

You go, girl!