OK, technically I am not "absent without leave." I mean, I told folks that I had to travel for work, and I fulfilled my Coach duties earlier today by mapping and mailing a route for the run tomorrow morning. Nevertheless, between dropping the dog off at the boarding facility (very swanky, thank you, so no disparaging comments about me farming her out) and getting everything set up for the cat sitter, not to mention the minor time-consuming indignities of the TSA, I have to miss my run with the BOMF crew tomorrow morning. And that bums me out.
The fact is, nobody else in my life is as consistently cheerful and filled with smiles early in the morning as Greg. And Al simply cracks me up. Kevin likes to slyly challenge me to run faster than perhaps I wanted, and Mike and Scott remind me that sometimes slowing down means you can take the time to learn something new. Will, Ron and Pierre teach me that quality can be more important than quantity when it comes to chatter, and I appreciate that Jose comes out to warm up with us even on days that he then has to scoot off to the job that keeps him on his feet all day long. Anthony loves to talk running, just like me, and Ralph makes me giggle. Andrea's smile lights up the whole city, and Meghan has a great laugh (plus she's a fellow Clevelander). Kelly is a firecracker, Stephanie is charmingly sleepy and Todd has just the right balance of self-effacement and authority. Dave, Tim, Beth, Michelle, Brenda, Steve--every week the group embraces more and more people committed to changing the world one mile at a time, every one of them with something to teach me about being a better person.
I am so very glad I'll be back in time for the run on Friday!!!
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