he really said that? really??!

ever get an unsolicited compliment from someone, and it sort of shocks you?  By shocking, I mean that it's unexpected, yet pleasant?

Gawd, I hope that this person doesn't read running blogs and happen to stumble across this post; I will feel like such a dork, but here goes.

I mentioned a few months ago that I joined a different gym. (I'm not going to mention the name of the gym, which would further assist this person to find my blog and read my dorky post through the 'powers' of Google).

I quickly learned that the owner of the gym was a runner -- a stellar-one at that.  We had a brief conversation about running when I wore one of my race shirts from last summer, where he was a pace bunny.  

He proudly displays an age-group medal for a race that I hope to run next month, and his framed Boston medal and certificate! I make a point of looking at this display each time I walk into the gym, especially if I'm there for a treadmill run if the weather is less than ideal.  It serves as a nice little motivator and reminder of the training and effort we all make in ourselves.

Anyway.  Jay came home from the gym a few days ago, and retold a conversation that he had with the owner, which started by him ask if I was still running and training for anything.  Jay mentioned that I was training for Around the Bay, the 30k race on March 29th.  He explained that this was his comeback race (not sure which year) after having blown out his knee.  He was overcome with emotion when crossing the line, and placed (maybe 3rd? I can't quite remember) in his age-group!  He then said that he's seen me running on the treadmill, and I'm a good runner, and said I should definitely run the race.

When Jay told me this story, I got a warm-fuzzy feeling, but kept asking him if he really said that to see if he was bullsh*tting me. Are you sure he was talking about me?? Here's someone who has been a runner longer than I, much faster runner, and accomplished in the running community as a Boston Qualifier and finisher; paying moi a compliment!  Since joining the gym, I've been focusing on my heart rate training which has slowed my already slow pace, so the compliment certainly wasn't speed related; it's nice that "fast" doesn't always mean "good" which is great news for me!

On the topic of heart rate training... 2 weekends ago I rejoined the running group, and ran with a different bunch given the pace I needed to keep my heart rate down.  We discussed the ideas and principles behind this type of training, the lactate threshold test that I had done to determine my zones, and what I was hoping to accomplish. She was intrigued, and asked me to forward the information I had from my research. I did.  She then discussed it with a few other group members during another group run last week, and now everyone is interested!  Once the 30k race is out of the way, there's a few that are really keen on trying this out! I expected to be alone on this, so I'm kinda proud to be trying something that others are getting excited about.

That's it for now, I'm gonna head out for a short lunch time run. Enjoy the day!