Once upon a time, I arrived in San Francisco on crutches after 18 hours of flying from across the world.
As an airport employee pushed me in a wheelchair to baggage claim and grabbed my pack, he asked, “Do you have anyone picking you up?”
“No,” I replied wearily. “It’s just me.”
I crutched my way onto a shuttle van and went to my hostel. I crutched up the huge flight of stairs to reception, checked in, then crashed in bed.
The next day, I crutched down the huge flight of stairs, took a taxi to a doctor’s office, found out I had bronchitis, took another taxi to a radiologist, got x-rays of my ankle, then broke down crying in a sandwich shop when the taxi I called never came and I realized just how sick, injured, exhausted and utterly alone I felt in this beautiful city that I couldn’t even enjoy.
And then Meg swooped in and saved the day. She lives in Seattle but works in the Bay Area, and she promptly plucked me from my despair and drove me around San Francisco to see the sights.
We checked out the Golden Gate Bridge.
She treated me to a wonderful seafood dinner on the water.
And then we both enjoyed ridiculous, amazing, gigantic ice-cream sundaes at Ghirardelli.
Oh. My. Yum.
Back in October, when I was training for a marathon, Meg ran 13 miles of a 15-mile run with me.
She also helped me believe in myself and aim higher than my initial 4:30 marathon goal time. I definitely have her to thank for encouraging me to set my sights on — and ultimately achieve — a 4:15.
So what I’m saying here is that Meg is an awesome person and I owe her big-time for multiple things. And, as always, I find it sort of crazy that I met such a great friend through the Tumblr.
Thanks for running with me, encouraging me and saving my sick, sprained, sorry ass in San Francisco, Meg. It all means more to me than you know.
Dev on Running 