Friend on the Trail

I had to post another blog today after my run.
The original plan was to run 6 miles according to my ultra training program.  Fellow runner Greg B posted that he was going to run 50 miles this week (a challenge!) which I responded to by changing my mileage to 10.

Let me just say, the weather was gorgeous!  Once I got out on the trail, I felt truly blessed to have such an amazing space to run.  I started out with sore legs.  Yesterday I was running a 9 min mile - MUCH faster than I should have been running.  So, the sore legs made sense.  I wondered if I would make it 10 miles today and at the 4 mile mark, I loosened up and felt good.  The 10 miles was do-able and I was considering pushing to 11.  When all of the sudden I see my old neighbor Luis!
When I was pregnant with my daughter Kacie, we lived on Oldbridge Rd.  Several times a week, I would see this good looking gazelle of a man fly by my house, rounding the corner.  I thought to myself, he was obviously training for a race.  So, for a calendar year I watched as this guy keeps running.  It was Luis who inspired me to lace up and run.  From time to time we would see each other on the trails.  Dana Point is a small town so it's easy to run into people you know.  I hadn't run into him for 2 years and today, there he was.  So, we stopped and caught up on  races we ran, pace times and such.  Luis runs a 5 min/mi.  I run a 10 min/mi.  He's crazy fast!  He won Knott's Berry Farm Roller Coaster race earlier this year and had just completed the Pendleton Mud Run.  He went on listing 2or 3 other races he had won.  Totally fun catching up with that guy.  I always thank him for being my inspiration.  It just goes to show how one person can impact a life.