The best compliment.

There's a woman in my neighborhood who walks a lot. I've seen her around and we usually chat a bit when we pass each other. Unless I'm running a specific workout, I like the break of chatting with her, mostly, I imagine, because there is rarely anyone to chat with in my neighborhood. There are only a handful of people who walk regularly and maybe one or two other runners but that's about it.

So anyway, I see this woman out and about a lot -- sometimes with one or both of her sons, sometimes alone. Two weeks or so ago when I was out for a run, I saw her and her younger (10-ish?) son and noticed something different. They weren't walking. They were running. Running! We crossed paths on one of the hills and gave each other a happy, hearty, "Hi!" Well, the son didn't. He was focused. But the woman and I did.

The other day I saw her again, alone. Again running. Again we crossed paths and again we said, "Hi." I also gave her two thumbs-up because I'm dorky like that. A little later in the run, we crossed paths again and this time we stopped to chat. I said something really deep like, "Hey, you're running today!" And she proceeded to give me the best compliment. She said something about how she kept seeing me out running and enjoying it, even when I was running up all the big hills and she just thought she should give it a shot. So she did!

Really? I inspired you to run? Holy cannoli!

She's doing a walk/run combination now and liking it. At some point, she said, she hopes to be able to run all the way up the hills like I do. She also said how she wished she had gone to the Freihofer's Run for Women last month (the big all-women 5k in Albany) and I went on and on (probably for too long) about how awesome the race is, how amazing it is to run with all women, blah, blah, blah. We chuckled together like old pals. She asked a question or two and I shared some advice. Then we each set off on our own way, in opposite directions.

I ran home with a buoyancy in my step uncharacteristic of the end of a run. I was just so happy that I had maybe had a little something to do with this woman starting to run. I think that's the coolest. Absolutely the coolest.

Happy Monday, everyone!

~ Felice