Favorite En Route Reflection

You've heard of "runner's high," right? That way up feeling after a run? (Yeah, I don't tend to get that. I think I feel that "runner's chill" where I know I'm finished and am good with sitting down for a wee bit!) I think my everyday-runner's-high gets stashed away and all comes out after a big event, so I've been pretty up since Sunday morning! It's time to come down ...! 

On my way back to normal today, I spent some time mentally going through the run again, and I kept coming back to a very favorite en route moment:

A couple of days ago, I mentioned I start to have dig pretty deep when I hit Mile 11. I remember just as I was starting to go there internally, I heard some women behind me. We'd just passed the mile marker when one of them must have checked her watch and said, "Hey. Ladies. We are going to finish this thing under three hours." It wasn't a statement of record nor was it a flippant remark for the purpose of filling a talking void. It was a revelation, and it was followed by one of the other women making joyful sounds while the another engaged in conversation in such a way that she seemed to need to say it out loud enough times to make sure it was true.

I am here to tell you that at that point, there was no way they weren't finishing under three. To exceed the three-hour mark, they would have had to started walking, and by "walking," I mean back tracking to the beer sample people at Mile 10, pulling up a lawn chair borrowed from our signage friends and sitting down for a spell. In other words, we really weren't even close at our pace to go over three. I knew that and expected it. It seems they did not.

I was so happy for these women, and they really made me smile. They were genuinely thrilled. They were proud of themselves. They were encouraging to each other. I'm betting in the starting corral, they were making a pact to stick together instead of announcing they couldn't wait for the other. At this point, they, too, dug down deep to finish the race ahead of where they first saw themselves. I do so love the human spirit!