I Just Met You and You Said That?!?

The older I get in life, the more I notice other people's strengths and weaknesses.  I see a trait in someone that I like, and think "oh, I should be more like that." Or, I see something that makes me hope that I will never become like that.

Last week my running partner/bestie were running with another lady -- lets call her "L."  I had only seen her a few times at track workouts, but didn't even know her name.  We head out for a 6 mile run, which gives us ample opportunity to talk about a variety of topics.  My friend starts by saying "tell us about yourself," a typical thing that she says when we don't know someone we are running with.

So L starts out talking, saying she's run a few marathons, without giving her times.  Then she goes on to talk about her sister who recently beat her fastest time, which she didn't know she was trying to do.  L then says she ran "a really horrible half marathon a few weeks ago.  My time was so bad, it was a 1:43."

As a person who has run that time multiple times, I do not think it is "bad." If I was talking to people for the first time, I would never say that because you don't know their times, especially since we just met like 20 minutes ago.

I've realized that running times are just that -- times.  It doesn't measure how good of a person you are, or even how good of a runner you are.  It is a reflection of what you did at one time, on one day.  What may seem like a horrific time to you might seem like the best time in the world to another person.  With that in mind, I've made an effort to talk less about my times/PRs/distance run and focus on other things instead -- like favorite GU or favorite part of the running path.

Tell me...

Do you run on a path, trails or on streets?  --> I run on a crushed limestone path about 70% of the time

Do your GUs change as the seasons change?  --> I like the chocolate/carmel/mocha ones in the winter and the berry ones in the summer.

Have you ever met anyone like "L?"