Running Evangelist

I spend a lot of time surprising myself these days.

This week, at work, it happened again. Two co-workers and I were about to begin a meeting and one of them, Heather, mentioned the new sneakers she'd purchased recently. Actually, when she bought them, Heather posted on my Facebook wall that the shoes made her think of me. (That anyone would think of me when they buy athletic gear is a huge surprise in itself.)

Anyway, Heather went on to say that, after using the shoes to take her dog on a long walk, she ate McDonald's.

Without even missing a beat, I launched into something about how a lot of runners don't lose weight because they overcompensate for the calories burned during runs by eating too much.

The conversation continued for about ten more minutes along the same line. Heather or Sarah would make a comment and I would have some rejoinder about running.

Please don't misunderstand, I wasn't hijacking the conversation. I even made a couple of attempts to turn the topic back to work. I even said, "I have about five responses to what you just said but I don't want to keep us from our meeting."

By the end, I'd offered to run a race with Heather if she decided to take up running.

So, anyway, what on earth happened over the last few months that I have become "that person" - the one who can always find a segue into further conversation about running, the one who offers to add a race to her schedule to motivate a friend, the one who evangelizes for the cause of running, the one who is sometimes completely annoying?

By the way,  if I ever do become "that person" around you and it's annoying the crap out of you, just let me know. I'll try to stop. Just give me some grace, though. After all, there's no one as zealous as a convert.