Chrissie Wellington and I ran together

I went to a fundraiser in San Diego today and ran with Chrissie Wellington.

Chrissie Wellington, author of A Life Without Limits - A World Champion's Journey , was at Mission Bay in San Diego to run with supporters of Tanya Goodwin Maslach. Tanya is raising $10,000 for CAF (Challenged Athlete's Foundation). In October, Tanya will be riding her bike from San Francisco to San Diego in support of CAF.

The event directions were to meet at the Runner's Bathroom in Mission Bay.

Well, after the drive from Riverside to San Diego I was in need of a bathroom, so we hunted down the Runner's Bathroom.

Just in case you are in need of some reading while visiting the Runners Bathroom, there are LOTS of Competitor magazines and runners pamphlet's neatly arranged along the side of the building.

About 35 of us stood around the bandstand set up for tomorrow's Rock-n-Roll San Diego run and heard an emotional talk from Nick Roumonada, a Challenged Athlete and CAF Staff member.

Then Chrissie said how CAF was one of the organization that she supports.

 In her book, Chrissie has a chapter devoted to THE HEROES OF IRONMAN - most of the triathletes included in the chapter are not professionals and most of them have some type of handicap or disability.

It was time to run.

"Can I draft off of you," I called out to Chrissie.

"Sure," she said.

And I tried to stay on her heels. I did. But I quickly got dropped.

I ran a few paces, I mean yards, behind her.

Chrissie is running in front of me - the one in the white compression socks. I am the one in the white Triathlon Connection visor running behind her.

Before the turn around spot I stopped and got ready to take a picture of the "fast" crowd coming back my way.

I mean, really, what did it matter if I hedged a few yards? I wasn't wearing a number. I didn't have a chip on. There was no start or finish line.

This was not a race.

This was an EVENT.

Especially for Sinta....I put a UFO in the left hand corner.

Then it was raffle time (yes, I won fabulous hot pink Nike gym bag) and book signing.

I told Chrissie that my favorite part of her book was "A Triathlete's Life." It carries a lot of the same messages as other inspirational books, including The Secret, which is that remaining positive is one of the most important things, and that visualization can make dreams come true!

She said, "Thank you for getting that."

Now I am going to go visualize about biking with Lance.