I ran ten miles today on a hilly trail without stopping.  That felt good.  What a difference 25° make.  Talk about feeling good though.  I ran up the hill that begins after 7 miles.  Something I couldn’t do without walking a couple of weeks ago in 100° heat.  This is a 150 foot elevation gain over a half mile.  The first half is about 100 of those feet, then it continues for another quarter mile with a more gradual climb.

This pretty girl running down from the other direction had a view of me running this second half.  This picture is a fairly accurate iStockPhoto.com representation of her, down to the gear and ponytail.  I generally wave at other runners and bikers with about a 30% wave back ratio.  This honey waved first with an unusually high wave.

I waved back – breathing too hard to say hi.  As my arm retreated I understood she wasn’t waving but rather she was going for a high five.  I rushed my arm back up in the air.  High fives can be hit and miss in a standing position – this took focus.  We were moving toward one another at probably a combined 14 miles per hour.  Given my fatigue and ethnicity, this had the odds of the bullets from two gunslingers colliding in the middle.  Slap!  This was possibly my best high five ever.

The girl had a huge smile and I got the impression she was saluting my efforts up the hill.  What a nice gesture.  What a coach!  Thank you to the pretty girl handing out high fives in the hills east of Boulder today.