Short distance, medium and long runs. The distance really didn't make any difference. Running with him was a motivation also for me. I could see him getting faster, running more efficiently. But more importantly I could see the same passion I had when I started running a long time ago.
One day he gave me the news I was not really waiting for.
His application got accepted and he would have relocated to Germany for the next, well, years. I went back to running alone and honestly running the same courses we were used to run together gave me the feeling that he was still there running next to me, or more accurately, behind me.
The first part of the run was usually relaxed and we were used to talk about pretty much everything, our achievements, life, politics, girls, sports, love. I enjoyed it so much and I truly missed it when he left.
Yesterday, I received a text from a german phone number that said "will you be in Leuven the 20th? Sajjad". He planned to stay here for three or four days. Benjamin Franklin said once that "lost time is never found again".
Agreeing with it or not, would have been one more reason to lose some more time. The first thing we planned to do together was a pizza and, of course, a running session in the country around Leuven. The course we were used to run looked much shorter today.
We started fast. We finished faster. Our excitement was too high to start slower.
Every curve looked familiar. Every footstep was predictable.
Our feet knew exactly how to step in front of each other.
For the 1st km we were pacing 4':15", 2nd km again, 3rd km didn't want to be slower than the first two. Then things started to be more spicy. 3'58", 3':53, 3':50 and so on, until the end for a total distance of 13 km. Not bad for a run at 7 degrees, quite relaxed at the beginning.
Sajjad is back in town.
