A continuation of folks who have in some way, shape or form inspired me to never let the running bug fade completely from this loser.

This is not a final list but just an addition to my "My Brother Brian" BLOserG.

"The lady" who helped me to not give up running up a hill during a Cleveland shamrock run. March 1994?
 
I entered the race with my brother John and somewhere in the mass of runners we split up and lost track of each other.

So there I was surrounded by runners that I had never met before but who, for the most part, all kept at the same pace as I was. I remember running up a huge hill and as my mind was telling my body that it'd be O.K. to walk the remainder of the grade, a lady who was about to pass me did something that caught me off guard. She must have seen that I was about to stop running and begin to walk. This lady SLOWED down to my pace and coached me up the crest of the hill. She just kept saying things like "Come on you can do it", "You're almost done" I didn't ask her name and all I could muster was a sincere "Thanks". And I meant it.

When I go running (or more lately, jogging), I'm usually by myself and have very limited verbal contact with other runners. Until "The lady" did this for me, I was completely ignorant of any type of runners etiquette.For me running wasn't about other people, it was about me, about what I could do, time for myself. In a nutshell I was a VERY self centered runner. I was never rude to anyone, others just didn't registrar to me.

The lady changed all that. Ever since and in every race AND in most aspects of my life I try my best to encourage others to never give up and that goals are achievable if they put the effort in. This manifests its form in many ways. Sometimes something as simple as a "Great job" to a fellow running, or striking up a conversation with someone that might be struggling and helping each other along. I am NOT very good at talking to people that I don't know and it takes a lot for me to strip my comfort zone to do so. Reference this weakness to Jim Bados blog "Genuine fake". So the next time you're running a race with me and you hear me yell "way to go", "hey this hill ain't nuttin'"or "Thanks" to the volunteers or the cops doing traffic control and you're thinking "My God does he ever shut up?" , don't blame me, blame the LADY.