The most unexpected places

I have a lot of usual places that I look for inspiration. It's mostly calculated, I know when I need an extra boost and I know where I can look to find it. The past few weeks, I have had unexpected inspiration. The first came after I completed a small local 5k that I was using as a test to see where I was at. Though I had set a :51 PR, I actually missed my goal by :15. Instead of celebrating, i let myself fall into an old habit of beating myself up. As I was ranting quietly inside my head, a man came up to congratulate me on my run (1st female, 2nd overall). He had caught me at very vulnerable place and I had to practically choke back my tears to respond. After we chatted for a minute, packed up and headed to the pool. What was probably an insignificant conversation to him, had not only lifted my spirits, but filled my running shoes with hope. Fast forward 1 week. It was Saturday again, but this time I was in the pool doing a super hard swim on my own. Afterwards, I was readying myself to go run while deep in self analysis mode thinking about my swim, when another woman in the locker room startled me. We talked about triathlon for a minute before she had to take off for work. Before she left, she said, "by the way, you're a good, no great swimmer." I would have settled for good! Since then, it's almost like the water actually feels different. It is. These conversations will probably never be recalled by those two people, but will forever have a place in my heart. Be that unexpected inspiration to someone, even if you think it's not that important. I can assure you, it is.