Tell me a great story of how you interacted with an Elite athlete, whether running, shopping, etc.

Driving to Chicago and came through the toll booth right in front of the Hansons-Brooks Van. I paid their toll and they were super cool and thankful.

Unless you are a Carl Lewis or Usain Bolt, most elite runners are not famous enough to be Divas. The average pro runner is unknown outside of the running community and earns less than middle class wages.

Jackie Joyner Kersee, Bruce Jenner, Frank Shorter, Bill Rogers, Pre, Jim Ryun, Carl Lewis, Evelyn Ashford , Edwin Moses, Marti Liquori, FloJo, Marion Jones, Dan O'Brian, Michael Johnson, Mary Decker, Gail Devers, Renaldo Nehemiah and Alan Webb are the only t&f athletes I can think of who were celebrities. In addition to winning major championships and setting records, these athletes where on the cover of Sports Illustrated, appeared on the 1st page of the sports sections of newspapers and appeared on TV, etc. Unfortunately, nowadays, you have to transcend the sport of t&f to be a celebrity. Although, I don’t recall Suzy Hamilton every setting records or winning international championships are and she was fairly well known

The biggest U.S t&f celebrities ever were:

Pre

Carl Lewis

FloJo

Jim Ryun

Mary Decker

Btw, Tyson Gay should be more well known, but in the early part of his career he was over shadowed by Justin Gatlin, then came Asafa Powell and then Usain Bolt. Allyson Felix is slowly becoming the most decorated sprinter in history, but she has never won an individual Olympic gold medal and has not come close to breaking any records. Breaking records is a sad reality for female athletes; the 100/200/400/800/1500/3000 and most of field events are almost out of reach.

I ran the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot last week. After I finished the 10K I was walking around the park next to the finish line and I walked by the elite runner's tent. Suddenly, I was standing next to Katie Follet. She's prettier in person than some of her Internet photos would suggest. She finished 7th in the elite women's 5K with a 16:33 time.

ChrisMartin wrote:

Followed Chris Derrick on the highway. Even pulled over to wait on the median as he went through the pay with cash toll as I had an IPASS. I know, extremely creepy. But kind of awesome at the same time.

Kind of creepy? Don't sell yourself short! It's super-creepy.

Jersey Bias wrote:

ChrisMartin wrote:

Followed Chris Derrick on the highway. Even pulled over to wait on the median as he went through the pay with cash toll as I had an IPASS. I know, extremely creepy. But kind of awesome at the same time.

Kind of creepy? Don't sell yourself short! It's super-creepy.

Who is Chris Derrick?

The Armstrong story is only worth a shit if you stepped off the eleveator on whatever floor he was going to and yelled, very loudly, "That's one small step for THIS man, muthafuka! Now lemme get my Buzz on!"

man of the east wrote:

I ran into Muhamad Ali one time in a western store, shook his hand. This was back in 1985, he was buying boots.

I also rode up a elevator once with Neil Armstrong. (I know he is not an athlete), but still kind of cool.

Almost 31 years ago now, I ran into one of the Beatles on the sidewalk in New York City. I thought, "Man, this is cool. I should try to make a lasting impression this this guy!" It may not have been memorable for him, but I sure gave it a shot.

Back in 1993, I showed Lance Armstrong around a science lab. I was a grad student at the time and he was old friends with the guy who worked next to me. This after his world championship but pre-cancer and pre-Tour victories... he was not that interested in the science but his girlfriend at the time was. I wonder what she is up to...

In high school, I went to an early season indoor meet at George Mason to watch because Alan Webb was opening up his season there. He ran about 4:04 and 1:50, so he must have been just doing a workout, but after the second race, i went up to him as he was discussing his race with his coach, interupted him, and asked for his hip number. He was pretty freindly considering that he had run a not-so-great time and that I was pestering right afterword. I saved his hip and chest numbers; they're still pinned to my bulletin board in parents house.

Also, I ran into Mia Hamm and the rest of the Washington Freedom women's soccer a few years after she won the world cup while checking in for a 6:00 am flight. I was pretty into soccer at the time, and she talked to me for a few minutes and autographed my plane ticket or something.

A number of brief encounters come to mind.

- at the Miami (road) Mile one year I said hello to Suzy Favour and wished her luck as she tied her shoes. Then asked her permission to take her picture. I was never 'stalker' crazy about her, but wow, she had/has one great smile.

- took a few pictures of Bill Rodgers at a local road race and about a year later was in Boston, dropped by his store, he happened to be there, and gave them to him. He acted like it was the greatest gesture anyone has ever done. Of course that is how he treats everybody.

- as a kid (age 8) I met Bobby Orr in the Bruins changeroom, but don't recall what he said.

I once met Kerry Strung at the Columbus Airport bathroom. We both came out of our stall and started to wash our hands when I realized who she was...we made small talk and she signed a piece of paper I had in my purse.

As for pro/elite/well known runner athletes I've met in the past (even if it was for a brief moment) they are....Tyson Gay, Ryan Hall, Frank Shorter, Steve Scott, Matt Fitzgerald, Katherine Switzer, Bart Yasso.

Other sport's players I've seen at a public places...David Robinson, Rick Helling, Charles Barkley, Steve Nash, Matt Leinert, Mark Grace, Luis Gonzalez and many other MLB players...lol

I sat next to Ravishing Rick Rude and his, uh, female companion, on a plane once. He was surprisingly chatty and normal.

First, I went to Chicago this year to watch the marathon. I was a few blocks east of Michigan Ave, on something like Lincoln maybe, in the median.

So I'm sitting there waiting for the elites to come up, look to my left... and saw Nick Willis! I sort of freaked out and said a bunch of stuff to him really fast, and sort of let my girlfriend know who he was and talked to him for a couple minutes and told him I liked how he raced and stuff.

Anyways, then he asked if the runners were coming on both sides of the median (like I knew or something) and I was like yeah and he left. He's one of my favorite runners ever so I was amazed. Then I was sad I didn't get a picture.

5 or 10 minutes later, saw him again and got a picture real quick. My girlfriend took it, and he noticed she wasn't getting a picture with Nick Willis so he got his wife who was like 100m away to take a picture of all three of us, without us even asking! Probably one of the coolest guys I've ever met.

Also have been in Hal Higdon's house multiple times.

Also met Meb K, Shorter, Bill R, Joan B.S., Solinsky, Jonathan Riley at and around the Falmouth Mile/Race in 2007.

Two of many:

1) Ran into Jim Ryan after we had both finished a workout. Had a nice ten minute chat about running and stuff.

2) Saw a bunch of people gathered around a runner as I was finishing a workout. Turned out to be Maricica Puica being interviewed. I stopped to listen and during a lull in the questioning, asked her what favorite meal she prepared for herself after a tough workout. Media folks looked at me funny; she laughed and answered (don't recall what she said).

Afterwards, she and her handler approached me and said that was the favorite question they had encountered in the states.

Along with a buddy of mine who worked in basketball sports marketing for Nike, I got to hang out with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen at a night club.

A couple years ago I was running to work along Aquatic Park in San Francisco when a short, slender runner came up on my shoulder. We ran in silence for a mile or two, at which point I felt it only polite to engage in conversation:

Me: So, where are you headed?

Him: Just downtown. How about you?

Me: Same. I'm Josh, by the way.

Him: I'm Dathan.

And yes, it was him. He was apparently in SF for some Nike event. Really nice guy.

I saw Billy Mills. He told me "believe, believe believe." I really love that advice.

I used to work in advertising for a big sports brand - have been fortunate enough to have lots of cool encounters with professional athletes. One of my favorites was on a shoot with Derek Jeter. He is a fan of making wagers on the funny challenges you hear/see. He bet me that I couldn't swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon. I knew I couldn't - I had seen friends try it before, but figured it would make a good story later. If I did it, he was going to pay me $100. If I lost, I had to buy him a large pizza.

Long story short, I have videos and pictures of it for my stories, and Derek Jeter enjoys pepperoni pizza in the off-season.

I was at a social event for my friends tennis and squash club. He pointed out a nice looking girl and told me she was world mixed doubles champion. Looked like a good opener so I went over:

'So I hear you're a world champion;

'I was second'