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October 19, 2006
Upon Reflection
I was sitting quietly by myself this morning reflecting on the many unexplained but truly amazing moments I have been blessed to experience in my life.
My thoughts turned to my father.
My dad and I used to enjoy running together during my annual visits home to South Africa.
The year before he died my father and I had an amazing 15k Sunday morning run through the tree lined streets of Johannesburg.
It was a beautiful clear summer morning with deep blue skies and a slight cooling breeze.
“I love running with you, dad,” I said.
He leaned over and touched my shoulder as we ran. “If we're not running together, just think of me right there next to you, running shoulder to shoulder. I will always be there in spirit."
That was the last run we had before he died.
A few months after my return from the funeral, I went for an early morning run along the Hike and Bike trail around Town Lake in Austin, where I live.
I run at a medium pace and I’m often passed by faster runners. One thing that bothers me is when someone runs up behind me and settles in at the same pace without passing me. For some reason, I find this uncomfortable and I’ll either speed up or slow down to let the person pass me.
On this particular morning, I was running well and was not passed by many runners. As I neared the halfway mark, a runner did indeed come up behind me and settle in to the same pace that I was running. I could hear his feet crunching on the gravel behind me.
I sped up. He sped up. I slowed down. He slowed down. Irritated, I finally stopped to tighten my laces and the runner passed by me.
Not long after that, the same thing happened again. I heard footsteps behind me and this time two runners ran behind me keeping the same pace. I sped up and ran hard for a few minutes and managed to lose them.
As I was approaching the Lamar Street bridge, I heard footsteps behind me again. As I ran under the bridge I sped up a little and the runner did the same. “Why are all these people trying to irritate me today,” I thought. I slowed to let the runner pass. He slowed too. He was right behind me. He was matching me step for step. I could hear his feet hitting the gravel at almost the exact same time mine were. I turned to let him know that I was not happy. As I looked over my shoulder I discovered that NOBODY was behind me. In fact the closest person to me was a lady walking her dog at least a hundred yards back.
I was amazed that nobody was there. I heard the footsteps loud and clear. I figured it was probably the echo of my own feet against the concrete bridge that I heard.
I finished the run and went to my local coffee shop for a cup of tea. At the shop I saw my friend Tuck.
“Hey, I saw you running on Town Lake a little while ago,” he said. “Beautiful morning for a run hey?”
“It was,” I replied.
“Is your brother in town?” he asked.
“No, why?” I replied. “He lives in South Africa.”
“Oh,” said Tuck. “I saw you running with someone under the Lamar Bridge as I drove by. The dude looked like you. Except he had a mustache. I thought it was your brother.”(My father, my brother and I look very similar. A few years ago we all had mustaches and were often told we looked like brothers. My dad looked very young for his age.)
“Nah, I ran by myself this morning,” I said.
“You were wearing a red running top, right?” said Tuck.
“Yes I was,” I said.
“Man,” said Tuck, “I could have sworn I saw a guy running alongside who looked just like you.”
I said goodbye to Tuck and smiled all the way back to my car.
Thanks dad for keeping your promise. I'd love to run with you again soon.
Posted by trevor at October 19, 2006 03:07 PM
Comments
You are blessed in more ways than one. This entry made me smile.
Posted by: The Rose Within at October 22, 2006 07:44 AM
So cool.
Posted by: Liz Ness at October 23, 2006 04:06 PM