I had a pleasant surprise in this part of the country of catching up with some cross-country teammates of mine from my days of running at the University of Rochester.

Ryan Stuczynski, Jeff Totten and I ran thousands of miles together, but we had not seen each other for fifteen years. I was surprised and glad to reconnect over some great beers at Hopworks Bike Bar in Portland.

We all have kids and love the outdoors. Jeff and Ryan are great dads and love their families. I got to hear stories about how they are sharing adventures with their boys out on the trails.

Jeff has hiked up some of the nearby peaks with crampons and ice axes. Ryan has lived over in Europe as an expatriate in the tech field for a few years.

We talked about old times running for Coach Hale and the tough times going through the workouts and races. But I can tell the experience has served us all well getting through life.

It was nice to reflect a bit on those days.

I’ll be back this way sometime. Ryan has been generous to hold our camping gear for the winter so I can swap out our snowboarding gear for the mountains. Very cool.

It’s great to be catching friends on the opposite side of the country from college and hearing about their successes. Life passes by so fast, and those connections become even more special. Thanks, Ryan and Jeff!