Julie
I was a little hesitant last night about going on regular Saturday run, my knees had been aching from the MMA class Thursday and sitting on my but in a desk that is kinda small aggregated everything, not to mention there was a constant stream of network traffic that needed to be analyzed. With all the traffic my 3rd point of contact was pretty much in the hot seat all night, except when i went to the bathroom and forgot my badge and got locked out . Well everything hurt and i was definitely going cancel the run but i had a Motrin and some icy/hot so i decided to see how i felt once i was out in the fresh air.
I got out to my normal parking spot around 0630 and and made my way to the Lincoln Memorial, it was just about day break a little cloudy and the temperature was around 60, i would rather run in the cold than in the heat any day. it was still a little dark and as i made my way up the side street to the monument starting point. i noticed that was starting to approach a woman from behind, as i have had a few experiences like this that didn't go to well; i made my way to the far side of the side walk made some over top coughing noises and then quickly passed with a hardy good morning to put any anxiety on her part at ease. we were both headed to the monument apparently and just continued in silence until we reached the steps and she asked me if i was doing the marathon i thought to m myself if she knew me at all she would be laughing at the ridiculousness on the question. i told her maybe if it were an 1/8 of an marathon a slight laugh and we went our separate ways. The run was okay i took it slow hated every step and everyone i saw along the way, although i give everyone passing casual salute and good morning. I was pretty satisfied with he overall run. i made it back to the steps a little winded and crashed on the steps.
When i was composed i looked up and took i n the the view of the reflecting pool and the other monuments in the distance. A woman's voice asked " was it a good run?" and i responded with "it never is" when i looked over it was the same women from earlier. A older women maybe late 50 just casually sitting enjoying the daybreak over the monuments. We eventually talked for about 45 minutes about all the events on the mall, her history in the area, families, politics, her New Years tradition of watching the daybreak from the memorial steps with a group for the past ten years and how proud we were to be citizens of this great country. I have a terrible memory when it comes to names and i just cant make myself use the different mental exercises like repeating the name 5 times while conversing to help move someones name from short term to long term. but i made sure to write her name down when i got to the car i am sure i will have the opportunity to see her again since we both have a similar habits on early Saturday mornings and more then likely over the past year we probably were encountered each other in passing. it was definitely a blessing.
