Another day of poor air quality. I was waiting it out hoping by late afternoon it would improve. Those were false hopes, so out the door I went to get in my scheduled 10K-Pace training run. Just in case I thought better of it enroute, I drove to a nearby park with a loop just short of a mile.

I mixed that park loop in with a bit of distance on streets adjoining the park. As it turned out, it was a good run, right on pace. Then, as I jogged to my vehicle, a sense of dread crept in.

There are a number of misfortunes that can befall a runner during a run and who hasn’t experience some of those listed below. (Thank you Outside Online for posting your almost-exhaustive list this morning). But, my problem was not included on the list.

Although I have experienced many things listed (thankfully not all at once), yesterday I didn’t encounter any of those issues. Instead, my problem was a vain search for my car key in the waistband of my running belt. To my surprise, the key was nowhere to be found, even though my cell phone was there.

I have gone on many a run with friends, particularly on trail, where they discover on return to the trailhead that they have lost their car key along the way. I know the sinking feeling they felt in their stomach.

For the hundresa (probably thousands) of runs, I had never, until yesterday, lost my car key along a running route. I called my husband who kindly dropped ff a spare key.

While awaiting his arrival, I walked the park loop expecting to see my key with it’s brilliant pink cover somewhere along the way. No key. After I had the spare in hand, I slowly drove the adjacent streets where I had run. No key.

Hope Springs Eternal

Empty handed, I returned home. Although I had never previously posted on the Next Door site. I thought why not, it’s worth a shot. If you’re not familiar with NextDoor, I see posts primarily reporting lost dogs and cats and found lost dogs and cats, inquiries about changes/land sales in neighborhoods, local events and such.

At 7:50 p.m., I posted on Next Door reporting the probable location of my lost key. Almost immediately, a wonderful person responded saying someone had posted on Facebook a photo of a key found in that area and how to contact them.

And there it was, a photo of my key. Now, how to locate this person on Facebook. Thirty minutes later I found the correct person. He responded immediately and we worked out in messaging how best for me to retrieve the key. All that within 70 minutes of my original post.

Thank you good neighbors who passed the word along, and the thoughtful person who picked up the key and made the effort to find its owner.

I’ve always felt that running brings out (on good days) the best in me. More and more I find it shows me the best in others.