Surreal

Tonight a few of the runners and I went to an invitational track meet, which included runners from high school to college to professional level, to cheer on our speed coach (in the photo). Living in the city we do, seeing runners of elite caliber has become the norm over the last year.

But I have to say, when Adam Goucher yelled "Alberto, where are my sweats?" my friend K and I gasped and just looked at each other bug-eyed. It was one of those surreal moments no matter how used to it we should be by now, we weren't. I mean, of course his coach Alberto Salazar would be there (standing two feet away from us) saddled up to the fence supporting his runners.

For those of you not familiar with the running world, Mr. Salazar is to running what Michael Jordan is to basketball, or so it seems. I am pretty new to the whole track thing. I mean I ran long distance track in high school, but I rarely knew who was good on the opposing teams (because I wasn't) and frankly I didn't care. But being that I now live in the city where the Olympic Track & Field Trials will be held for 2008, 2012, etc. and I have been running with an organized group here for over a year now, I've been quickly catching up on my professional runners knowledge.

When I started coming to the group runs, hearing people say names like Salazar, Goucher, Ritzenhein and Symmonds meant squat to me. But now I know those names and the faces to match them...and sometimes even smile and wave as we see them out on the trails. Kind of weird, but not surprising. After all, running is one of those sports where all you really need is some shoes and shorts (and a good sports bra for the women) and a little bit of motivation.

Photo courtesy of: Phil Johnson