Like A Celebrity With Sore Legs

I LOOOOVE the South!!!  I've told Michael many times that I could easily pack up and move to the Southeastern part of the United States.  I simply love it!  So of course this past weekend at The Myrtle Beach Marathon, I enjoyed my three days with very hospitable Southerners.  My finishing time was pretty pedestrian at 3:59 (more on that later) ... but while my legs are way more sore than they should be for a 4 hour marathon, I couldn't have enjoyed myself more!

I'll write a review of the race later this week, but I wanted to share with you something really cool that happened while running ...

At about mile 10 or 11, a guy ran up beside me and said something.  I had my headphones on of course so I didn't hear him clearly at first.  My initial thought was he was gonna say "Hey man, you just cut me off!", or "Stop rapping and singing out loud you idiot!', or "Why do you keep throwing your hands up in the air like you're a champion or something ... are you listening 'The World's Greatest' or something?" (The answer to that would have been yes).

So reluctantly I took out my left ear bud and said, "What's that?"  The guy then said, "I really like your blog!  I have it bookmarked and I read it all the time, but lately you've been slacking a little."

I was shocked and didn't know what to say.  So I answered, "50 After 40????"  Like, are you sure you've got the right guy?  The guy then said "Yeah, I read it all the time - I love the race reviews!"  I laughed and said, "Well it's great to meet you, and yeah, my blogging has been lacking a little lately - just really busy."

I was very shocked to say the least ... I felt like a dang celebrity or something!  "How did you know I'm the guy from 50 After 40", I asked.  He told me that he'd read I was going to be at the race and he had been looking for me and just happened to find me. I was amazed.  He told me his name was Bobby from Charlotte, North Carolina and we kinda just hit it off.  We ran the next 15 or 16 miles together discussing everything running.  And the coolest part was, he told me he was a huge baseball fan, which if you've followed for a while, you know I'm maybe the biggest baseball geek in the world.

I've met a couple of blog followers in real life before, and it's always awesome - but this time was really cool because it was completely unexpected.  I don't think either of us were in our best race shape, but I think I probably slowed him down a little.  Plus, I can be the world's biggest "Chatty-Cathy" during a race, which has to be annoying.  But he never once complained about my stupid jokes to volunteers or endless rambling about running.

Bobby - it was great running the race with you and I look forward to getting together at Little Rock in a couple of weeks!  Email me and we'll work out the details - running50after40@yahoo.com
... be great today!