Inspired On Our 12 Miler

Let me start with some background....
Whenever I run, I always look passerbys (other runners, walkers, bikers, etc) in the face and smile and/or say 'Good Morning'. The other day I was telling Brad how amazed I was at how rude some people are b/c they won't look you in the eye - or even worse, they look at me, I smile, and they look away! Aren't smiles contagious? How can you just look away when someone smiles at you!?! I will never understand that. It was too funny b/c Brad then tells me that he never looks people in the eye when he jogs. Ha! Here I was venting about 'rude' people and my own husband is one of them! Different strokes for different folks, I guess. So now, Brad teases me about being social even while on a run. Ok, so keep this story in mind as you continue to read.... we will come back to it.

This morning Cade & I had a 12 mile run on our training schedule. Cade woke up at 5:45am to eat, so once he was done I put him back to 'bed' in the stroller. This way he could go back to bed while I got the long run out of the way. I was worried he would wake up mid run, so Brad was 'on-call' in case I needed to swing back by the house to do a 'pass-off', but nope... my Little Sidekick was a champ for all 12 miles:) What a guy! Here he is at the beginning.... right before falling back to sleep.Here is our view at about 5 miles in....Quick break for a Mommy & Baby shot!
We ran by the hotel that Brad & I stayed in the night of our wedding... top left corner was our room!
Then we jogged over to the Scene Of The Crime! This is where we tied the knot 2.5 years ago:) And this is the grass field right across the street where we took our wedding pictures. I just love that I get to see 'Our Spot' on my runs. And I can show Cade where Mommy & Daddy got married:)Told ya he slept the whole time....Ok... here is where I finish up my story from earlier.
When I was down by the wedge, I passed this older man who was going the opposite direction.... I was impressed that he was running. But then, I passed him again about 4 miles later! Now I was REALLY impressed! I smiled (of course) and kept on trucking. Cade & I were at 11.25 miles and you'll never guess.... yep, passed by him again! Now remember how social I am...so at this point I HAD to stop him for a quick chat.

Me: Excuse me. I just HAVE to ask you - how far are you running today?! I saw you all the way down at the wedge earlier!

Him: 20 miles.

Me: (Gasp!) Wow! You must be training for a marathon... I am so impressed! If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?

Him: 75. (Yep, you read that right!) I have been running for 35 yrs. I once got hit by a truck while running and told the Doc to put me back together so I can run again. The Doc was a bigger guy and I talked him into running - now he does marathons too.

Me: Wow.... how fast do you run?

Gordon: (Somewhere in here we exchanged names) Well, my fastest marathon was 2hrs, 46 min. which was about a 6 1/2 min mile.

Michelle: (Thinking Holy Moley!) I am so inspired! I thought I was fast and my best time is 3hrs, 43 min. So nice to meet you... care if I put you on my blog and take your pic? Have a great day...I'm sure I'll see ya next week on the boardwalk!