"How was your marathon?", asked the man on the bicycle as I booted it along the path.
I had woken up late today, was hesitant as to whether to go run or not, but then headed out an hour later than usual for my run. I started my usual route, starting behind the subway station and continuing on to Dankook University, and everything seemed normal. There of course weren't the usual people I see out on my route -- the milk ladies sitting curbside enjoying their morning break together, the guy with the oh-so-fugly-it's-cute dog, the two speed walking chatty women, or the morning smoker under the bridge. I see these people and others almost every single time I run but not today because I had left the club so late. But as I passed by my old, old apartment, it was made clear to me that I am in fact one of the usual people another person is used to seeing every morning.
[Enter the man on the bicycle].
I was only about 2kms into my run when suddenly I heard the loud voice of a middle aged Korean man. I had my music on and earphones in so I unplugged and turned to him as I continued running. He was on a bicycle and looking rather smiley.
"How was your marathon?" he asked again in Korean. I didn't run a marathon recently nor have I ever ran one, I want to though. I told him this and he responded by telling me that he thought I had ran a marathon and am training for my next because he hasn't seen me out running for a little over a week and a half. "Ohhhh...that's because I went to Thailand for a fight" I told him and, on that note, he continued riding his bicycle beside me because he was shocked and curiously wanted to ask more. We chatted about me being a boxer and what I do in Korea, how he has a daughter who is looking to start exercising and how I have a boxing club. For just a bit under 2kms we chatted and then we parted ways. When I returned after my loop around the Dankook lake I looked for him, as if he'd still be there waiting for me, but he wasn't.
It was a very unexpected but a very cool encounter and it got me thinking about all the other people I encounter on a daily bases and if I've some how touched the lives of others without even knowing it. Those two speed walking chatty women, have they ever taken notice of me before, was I ever an accessory to their morning conversation and did they notice I was gone? I've noticed that the guy with the oh-so-fugly-it's-cute dog used to actually walk with two oh-so-fugly-they're-cute dogs but about a month ago that changed. I don't know what happened to the other one but now he just walks with one and now every time I pass him I think of Mi Nam, my beloved French Bulldog who passed away about 3 years ago now and was also borderline oh-so-fugly-he's cute. Consequently, every time I pass by where I buried Mi Nam I think of that man; he left an impression.
It was an interesting run today, full of lots of thinking thanks to a man on a bicycle that told me he missed seeing me running and wanted to congratulate me on a marathon I never did. And when I arrived back at the club, all eager to tell Snickers, he teased me about being so wildly amused and excited about such an encounter. "You think too much about weird things", he told me. And yes that is true but I come from a father who, upon looking out at a highway buzzing with cars with people busily on the go, would always say "look at all those brains, I wonder what they're thinking".
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