Weren’t You Wearing That the Last Time I Saw You?

Apparently my aforementioned fashion rut (see The Big Question) extends to marathon wear. Around mile 10 of the Richmond Marathon, a girl asked me, “Did you run the Charlottesville Marathon in March?” Well, actually it was in April, but yes, I did, and yes, I remembered talking to her. I could picture the steep hill in the Charlottesville Marathon course that we had confronted around the time we had a conversation about elevation change and how an elevation map just doesn’t give you the same impression as surging headlong into a climb.

How did she recognize me, though? I wouldn’t have noticed her in particular if she hadn’t spoken to me, and then I thought I remembered her voice and her headband. She must have remembered my bright blue shirt, my prize from the Moab Half-Marathon. Um, yeah, I wore the same shirt in Charlottesville. Usually I like to change things up, but OK, I like the blue shirt, and the pictures from the Charlottesville Marathon didn’t really do it justice. The print I ended up buying is pretty small, and I get to share the foreground with my running pal Elvis, which is cool and all, since Elvis made the last six (hilly) miles of the Charlottesville race way more fun than they would have been if I'd been running alone. But I wore the blue shirt again and hoped for, yes, I admit it, a photo with me, me, me in the center!

Maybe fashion ruts aren’t so bad, though. How else would I have been reunited with my old Charlottesville Marathon buddy-of-the-moment?