Dear runner

Dear runner in the red shirt, black hat and yellow Asics:

You don't know me, but you made my day today. I've been, well, let's say slacking "slightly" in the running department as of late, but my new-found flab and the infamous Geneva winds finally got me out the door today. Notice I say "out the door" and not "out on a stellar run".

Fifteen minutes on the go and four ridiculously overplayed songs later, I was ready to call it quits. Half hour later, I was sweating buckets, turning purple as a prune and heaving like ... well, I don't even know a metaphor that compares.

But then I found you.

Calm, cool, collected and clearly no amateur, you reminded me of the lessons running once taught me - before I seem to have gone into running hibernation and forgotten them all.

You reminded me that life (and runs) are journeys to be savoured - not sped through. You reminded me that your own rythym is the only one that ever really matters. As I counted the beat of your steps and mine, you reminded me that all we really have to do is put one foot in front of the other. As we hit the one hour mark, you reminded me that running - like life - is 95% psychological, 5% physical. You reminded me of the power of running.

Maybe you knew I was behind you, and knew the favour you were doing me by serving as my pacer as I silently marked my pace in perfect synchronization with yours just 15 feet behind. Maybe,you were lost in your own runner's world where all of the day's problems are solved and never even noticed I was there.

Either way, dear runner, thanks. I'll be thinking of you ... most likely when I discover muscles I never knew I had and am repeating to myself "one foot in front of the other" as I attempt to climb the stairs tomorrow...