It's a Small World: A Running Story

The sweet gal between my mom and me in the photo above is named Christie. Today I have a "small world" running story about Christie and her husband Wayne.

Three weeks ago, we were sweating away and coming up on mile 16 in the City of Trees Marathon when we saw this adorable woman bouncing around near Camel's Back Park wearing all black and a bright green tutu. She was cheering like crazy for us, telling us how fun our matching outfits were and sending out words of encouragement. My mom—as she always does—yelled back, "We're mom & daughter! This is our first marathon together!" The woman replied as she jogged next to us for a moment, "Oh my gosh! So cool! My husband is running the marathon with my son, who is 12, and it's his first one, too! You guys are SO AWESOME!" We thanked her, adorable and energetic as ever in her little green tutu, and carried on with our run. Sidenote: we always talk for the duration of our runs—even marathons—and especially with other people on the course, so this wasn't out of the ordinary for us.

Fast forward to last Saturday when my mom and I were standing in line at the port-a-potties before the Zeitgeist Half Marathon. This little fireball of a woman was standing in front of us, being as cute as ever, and one lady commented on how cool her shoes were—if you notice in the photo above, they're the same ones I have (and I also trained in the pink ones for the last several months)—so I couldn't help but butt in and say how much I loved them, too. The woman took one look at my mom and I—dressed in our head-to-toe matching gear and City of Trees fleece sweatshirts—and said, "Oh my gosh! Aren't you two the cutest!" My mom—once again—said, "Mom & daughter!" and the lady immediately said, "Oh my gosh! I was the lady in the green tutu at the City of Trees... you guys were the cute matching ladies! I know you!" And right then and there we found our new running buddy. We ran into her after the race and had to snap a photo... it's such a small world!

Her name is Christie, and she introduced us to her husband Wayne who was there supporting her this time. Christie is a huge runner, and just qualified for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3:40 (she's a rockstar!). And get this, she and her husband own a running company called Final Kick Events. They put on several races around the Treasure Valley including Struttin' for Stuffin' coming up on Thanksgiving and the Hot Chocolate Run on December 28—which I think I just might run! Were they a great couple to run into or what?

Honestly, sometimes this world is just so small... and I'm so thankful for that. This one woman's small gesture of encouragement made such an impact on us, and look where it's going to take us. I see a running partnership in our future! I can't wait to run many of Final Kick's races... and this is coming from the girl who just this past Monday said she was "done" running. It's funny how life works sometimes.

If you're local to the Treasure Valley, make sure to check out Final Kick Events' Facebook page for all the details of their upcoming races. Consider joining me for the Hot Chocolate Run on December 28, won't you?