Chance meeting

I always seem to run into talented runners. Take today for example. For more than a month, I've been looking for an used trampoline for Alison. I located one on CraigsList. The gentleman I was talking to was in Arkansas and was acting as the middle man for his mother.... who lived in Kingwood.

When I arrived at her house the woman told me I was emailing her son in Arkansas, to which I replied, "Yeah he told me he was out of the state". While we were negotiating a price, she told me she had initially purchased the trampoline for her daughter who later took an interest in Cross Country. This started a long discussion of her VERY talented kids who all run. Her oldest son (the one located in Arkansas) ran both Cross Country and Track for Kingwood High. Her and her younger son told me about his blazing 4:09 mile PR and how he was an all-state runner. Currently, he is running for Arkansas on a full scholarship.

Her daughter was a Kingwood cheerleader, before trying out for the girls cross country team. With no experience she placed 15th and immediately dropped cheerleading. If you know anything about Kingwood girls Cross Country, you probably know they are the State "Big-dogs". I can only imagine how impressive her times must be for her to place 15th without any formal training.

Her younger son was helping me disassemble the trampoline and seemed to be very excited just to talk about track. Subsequently, he knew all kinds of numbers/times about his older brother and sister. Just to see how aware he was of running, I asked him, "What did you think of Ryan Hall breaking the American record here in Houston?". He replied, "I can't wait till I'm old enough to run the half". For him to recognise the name and the distance, I knew this was a serious running family.

After that I kind-of stayed quiet. It would have seemed silly for this big ole 240-pounder to say, I run too.

Anyways, I just thought this was cool. I might have been talking to the mother of the next great American Runner.