I'm also a huge track nerd. Put the two together and what do you get? Extremely awkward encounters with professional runners.
Here's my top five:
1. Andrew Wheating, Eugene Marathon
Right after I ran the Eugene half, my sister, boyfriend, and I went to a party hosted by Picky Bars at Ninkasi. I'd expected Lauren Fleshman. I hadn't expected Andrew Wheating. So when I saw someone who looked a lot like Andrew Wheating standing there, a real person, in a brewery, after staring at him for a solid ten minutes I finally worked up the balls to approach him. I opened my mouth and out came "ARE YOU ANDREW WHEATING?" When he laughed and said yes, I told him I hadn't recognized him without the beard. By beard I meant the little fuzz on his face in Behind the Stands. He looked seriously confused.
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| And also really tall |
2. Lauren Fleshman, Club Nats
This was my second or third time meeting Lauren Fleshman. Not sure. It was after XC Club Nats last year. I'm past my partying days, but Club Nats is the exception. I mean, when else do you have a thousand or so post-collegiate runners clustered in the same city, all of them done with their seasons at the same exact time? So after the race I drank through the awards and then got dragged along to another party after that. I was wasted by the time I ran into Lauren Fleshman, who is like my favorite. So that's what I told her. "You're like my favorite!" I have a way with words.
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| "Oh well," I thought, "next time" |
Unfortunately, "next time" I was two days post-surgery doped up on Tramadol. I decided it'd be a good idea to take the bus over to the Beat the Bridge 8K to watch my teammates and take pictures. When I finally figured out in what direction the race was going to start, I took a seat next to a wonderful blonde lady on the curb. I put my Picky Bars water bottle down next to me. She turned and said "I thought I recognized that water bottle!" It was Lauren Fleshman. I informed her that every time I see her I "turn into a babbling idiot," and then mentioned my encounter with her at Club Nats. She said she remembered it. Great. I didn't take a picture this time because I didn't want her to think I was stalking her.
4. Kim Smith, Brown University Track
I was doing a track workout on a hot summer day in Providence in 2012. My old coach Bob asked if I'd met Kim Smith because she was there, at the track, also doing a workout. I said that no, I hadn't, but I knew who she was and followed her running. So Bob introduced me to her. Not her to me. Not like "Talia, this is Kim Smith" but the other way around, "Kim, this is Talia, she's one of our marathoners." Oh shit, what was I supposed to say? So we both complained about how hot it was. It was hot. Really hot. Hard to do a workout when it's this hot. She was leaving for the Olympics soon. Cool. It probably would have made sense to say something like "good luck in the Olympics."
5. Joan Benoit Samuelson, Iron Girl Columbia Half
This was a women's-only race and it was probably the coolest thing ever. Joanie was the special guest. She was also racing. When the gun went off there was the lead pack right there and no men and just women and the clock and oh my god the lead pack the lead pack I had to be part of the lead pack so I raced up to the front and held on for as long as I could. Then I faded. And faded. And faded. At one point I heard light, efficient steps behind me and I thought "I'm about to get passed by an Olympic gold medalist!" Joanie ran right by. I hung on to her for as long as I could. It wasn't very long. I ran a PR that day, but it was a terrible race in terms of strategy because, well, there was no strategy. I just got so damn excited. You run, you learn. I approached Joanie after the half-marathon. She said (in the voice that moms use to guilt their daughters) "you went out too fast!" Oops.
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| Also, back then I was really into PJs as warm-ups |
Oh, and here's an honorable mention from last night:
