Chance Encounters

I ran in the Huntsville Heros 5K race in south Huntsville today. It was a beautiful day for a race! Jack was going to run the half-marathon that was also happening today, but after the week that he had, he really wasn't ready for that race today! But it turned out to be fortunate for me, because he ran the 5K with me and encouraged and paced me along to my best 5K race time ever... 29:36! My goal was to see if I could go under 30 minutes, so I was really happy with that. :)

While we were waiting for the race to start, I happened to see the woman who was my physical therapist earlier this year. She spent about 3 months with me, working on my hip, and with Anna, working on her ankles. I haven't seen her in quite a while, but she recognized me right away and even asked about Anna - that was nice. She was there watching her husband run his first half-marathon. So after we got done with the 5K, we stood with her and watched the half-marathon and waited on her husband to come in.

As she and I talked, I was telling her about Jack's triathlon training and experience with his first half-ironman... and also about him getting sick this last week and wanting him to get checked out here at home by our regular physician. Well, she works next door to a doctor who is a general practioner, but is also a nationally ranked triathlete and specializes in sports medicine! His practice is apparently closed to new patients, but she offered to make a referral for Jack to see him. And that was all without me even asking! Since he really wants to do more triathlons in the future, it would be a great blessing to have a doctor who knows all about the sport.

Anyways, this is sort-of making a short story, long (which I'm really good at! ha) ... but I was just thinking what a 'coincidence' it was to run into her in a crowd of 1400 people today and that Jack just happened to go through the things he did this last week - and that she would offer to help him out when she barely knows us. Pretty neat. So today I am thankful for 'chance' encounters, out-of-the-ordinary kindness, and God's always perfect timing of things.

Update: So while I was sitting here writing, Jack called out from upstairs and asked if I had checked the race results from today... guess what? I came in 10th place in my age group (40 - 49) out of 44 other women! For someone who is usually in the 'bottom third' of the finishers, I'm just pretty fired up about that!! :)