Our Ryan Run at Los Pensaquitos Canyon

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We held our Saturday run this morning at Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. There was initial confusion, since my message with a change of start and notice to carry water was supposed to be forwarded to everyone but didn't get done by the group's leader; so, some people initially went to the wrong starting place and some ran a long way on the trails without hydrating.

We all kept to the "easy side" of the preserve in which no one could get lost, though that leader I just mentioned did forget a turn and went the extra mile. Some of us wore signs on our back that said "Running Today for Ryan Shay." Today was the day to run 5.5 miles in the 28-year-old's honor. The distance is where he collapsed and died during the Olympic Marathon Trials earlier this month.

I'd by lying if I said I thought of Ryan Shay the entire hour we ran. I did when another group of runners saw our shirts and asked about him. But otherwise, I was chatting it up with new and longtime friends I hadn't run with in months, even years in the case of Helen. Helen and I had trained and finished a marathon together a few years ago, and she's one of 17 people in the U.S.A. yet to hear about my last marathon ordeal. So I filled her in, and that kept other conversation to a minimal. Yes, even in the wildnerness I can manage to suck all the air out of the "room."

Still, I finished feeling happy, grateful, carefree and appreciative, which I think Ryan Shay would have wanted us to experience in his honor anyway.

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