to be or not to be

Sometimes it's hard to go to somewhere you are not known. Other times it's hard to go somewhere you are known. And then there are the in-betweens.

I went for my usual Sunday morning walk with my friend and saw a police officer directing traffic right at the intersection where I turn into the walking path. All of a sudden there were like 50 runners than went by.

I thought, "Crap! It's the (local town where I slave) Stampede!". What if I see someone I know? I wasn't really dressed for public viewing.

Well, it was kind of fun to be walking with all these sweaty, tired, & hot runners going by.... why do people run? We should run from Osama, and that's about it.

Then all of a sudden....

"Hi ***my name***!"
"Hi, J!"
"Nice to see you, _______!"

---- I saw the assistant principal at our junior high, a 1st grade teacher from my "sister" school, and 2 former parents. ----

I was worried about what I was wearing, but please now that I think about it, they were the ones breathing like dogs.


These other runners, thought that my friend and I were just race participiants that had slowed wayyyyyyyyyy down, and encouraged us by saying, "Hey, keep it up! You can do it!" And of course I responded by saying, "Hey, thanks!". We even were handed water!

It was nice to be known.