Dear Carol and Steve
Thank you from the back of the pack
There’s a special kinship among runners. I have met some of the friendliest people at races. One of them I met at our Cherry Blossom 10-miler. I had arrived alone, and this woman came up to me in my corral and asked if I ran intervals. We ran the same ones and ran the whole race together. Fiver years late, we are still friends even though we live thousands of miles from each other. At the annual Turkey Burn-off, I met a local woman running the same intervals, and we finished our race together, swapping information and becoming friends.
I ran a local race recently, and I was once again reminded of the kindness of strangers and the special kinship among runners.
Dear Carol and Steve,
We did not know each other before the race started, but you took the time to invite me to do a run/walk interval with you around mile 2 of our 5-mile race. When you invited me, you didn’t know that it was only my second race since my breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Truth be told, I didn’t even train for the race as I have in the past. I was too self-conscious about my pace, knowing that I would finish in last place.
After cancer treatment, I fell out of running. During treatment, I kept up with my walking and some running until I couldn’t do it…
