Hey Greg!

I was on Hains Point in DC last week, where there's free parking, intending to head over by a bike from the bike-share program docking station there across the bridge to L'Enfant Plaza to go running at noon with my former running buddy from work when another friend and former colleague ran by at a rapid pace on a tempo run.  I called out, "Hey, Greg!"

He glanced over, said, "Hello Peter," and kept on going.  I hadn't seen Greg in months and I thought he was going to skip this opportunity to catch up briefly because, well, he was on a timed speed run.  But after a few more steps he stopped, shut off his pacing watch, and came over to chat for a few minutes.  He didn't even evince that he had things to do (like finish his planned run) and places to be (like back at work in a few minutes) and we had a nice, unhurried talk.

I wouldn't have blamed him if he had just waved hello and kept on going.  Don't I know that runners are obsessive and compulsive; that's why they're runners and most write down the time and distance of each and every run.

But friendship won out over a runner's dedication in this instance and I appreciated that.  Greg's a great guy and shares his talents for running with sage advice when asked and mentors people at work in a way that not many other lawyers do.  After our brief conversation I hopped aboard a bike to go meet my running partner at noon and Greg took off on foot to run across the same bridge I was going to cross and don't you know, he beat me across it.  At noon I had a nice mile-long run with my past running buddy to the DAV Memorial in my attempted return to running ten months and forty pounds after achilles tendinitis felled me.