Unexpected encounters

Today was a pretty easy day at work.  I had a court appearance downtown in the morning and then one up in Vista in the afternoon.  My family is away in Florida, so once I got home, I could do whatever I wanted.  I took a nap.

Once I woke up, I was having an internal dialogue about how I dislike my job and blah blah blah.  I needed to get out and run, but I didn't want to run.  As I didn't run the day before, not only did I have to run, I needed to put in a hard workout.  I choose to do a two mile warm-up and then 5 x 1 mile intervals, with 1/4 mile rest.   This was on trail with 1600' of gain.  It was a tough work-out.

Towards the end of run, on the Ridgeline Trail, I saw a runner approaching.  It was Chris the ultrarunning bad ass.  I held out my hand as we passed.  He slapped it, with a big smile on his face.  We both ran on, without exchanging a word.  This is the sort of moment that rarely happens, an unplanned and unexpected exchange of energy with a compatriot, that gives you a boost for a bit.  

It made me think about everything that led up to that moment.  It took two years of running and reaching out to other runners to meet Chris.  Then it took me overcoming a hamstring injury and my own whining to be on the trail at that moment when Chris passed me.  Its moments like these that are more important than medals and personal bests and course records.  Its just the simple act of passing a friend on the trail who loves to run just as much as you do.  For that moment, everything was perfect in the universe.