Forrest child wrote:
I had heard all kind of comments while running in the past 20 years.
I like doing "magneto loops" during my morning runs. One goes through posh neighbourhood, up a long hill. At the top of the hill I always met an old guy, who was uttering random comments, sometimes clapping. One early morning I heard him shouting: "I missed you yesterday, did you sleep in, were you lazy, or too fast?" Next morning he said: "Right on time, Zatopek, see you in Sydney. Looking strong and smooth." I heard about 1000 comments from this guy and usually nodded to him a said good morning. He even learned my name somehow, probably recognized me from newspaper, and used it in his comments. Then, about 8 years ago he stopped coming out in front of his fenced off huge mansion. One day I had bumped into a middle aged lady coming out of his villa, so I had stopped and asked whether the old guy was allright. She said, he had passed away month ago, and why I was asking. I told her about our morning "conversations" going on for more than a decade, and she smiled and said - my dad was olympian, a miler, and said his name. Of course I immediately recognized his name, since we had just a handful of really good runners in my country. Too bad I did not know it before, I would have stopped and talked to him, aked his autograph, or something... I always think about him, when passing his house, sometimes even uttering "mornin".
Wow, I actually teared up a little reading that. I think this is one of the best posts I have read on this site. Would love to know who the man was if you don't mind telling us? If not, I totally understand.
Thank you for sharing either way.