That one guy, that one time

I forgot to write about this, but I think this story totally exemplifies how ridiculous I am when it comes to boys. My older sister mentioned how I used to be so boy-crazy when I was younger and I just had to laugh. Used to be ? Still am.
When I went home a few months ago, my sister decided to ask at the dinner table if I was dating anyone. My response was that I hadn't met any guys that I was interested in dating. She responded with, "That's the problem. You date guys. You need to date a man." Seriously.
But back to my story. I've been putting in some serious mileage on the trails, thanks to some gnarly shin splints. I love taking Titan out on the trails too, because I can take him off the leash and let him run around being nature dog. We play a fun game of leap frog. He runs ahead of me and stops 10-15 feet ahead and stops to wait for me, his tongue happily hanging out. I catch up and pass him, and after 5 feet I'll look back and call him. Probably one of my favorite sights is seeing him running towards me, full speed, tongue flapping. If you want to see a dog smile, come run with Titan.
On this particular day (a Thursday) we had left the house kind of late and I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to beat the dark. So we were running harder than usual. Titan also decided that he wanted to play in the creek instead of his usual splish-splash walk through. I get that he's lab and genetically predisposed to finding fun in every puddle, but we were on a schedule. I wasn't afraid of animals or things that go bump in the dark. I was afraid of my own clumsiness and tripping over rocks, etc. So, I pulled my mini-water buffalo out of the water and forced him up the trail. At this point I was sweating and breathing pretty hard and since I was running, I was probably making some weird faces.
As I ran uphill a man burst through the trees. Rephrase: A HOTTTTT man burst through the trees. He was wearing a turquoise Nike dry fit shirt and had on black running shoes. A weird detail, but I couldn't stop but to think, Who wears all black running shoes? Hott dude had two dogs who were also off leash and they of course wanted to make friends with Titan. Hott dude saw Titan's poop bags which I tie to his harness and are often mistaken for wings and asked "Why she had wings on". "She's a he and those are his doggy bags." He laughed, gathered his dogs and we headed our separate ways. But the rest of my run was spent thinking about his nice smile and his perfect stubble. Seriously, he had the most perfect facial hair. Little known fact about me: I love facial hair. It makes guys look more rugged, more manly and I like that it scratches me.
As we raced down the trail trying to beat the sun I chalked up the encounter to just that, a nice encounter. So imagine my surprise as I hit the trail head and saw who was waiting. Hott dude was leaning against the fence, his two dogs in the back of his car. As I approached I tried to think of something funny. My mind went blank and all I could say was "Hi". He said that since it was getting dark he wanted to make sure that I got to my car safely. (Chivalry and good looks? Pinch me!) We chatted about running and Titan and he said his name was John. I mentioned that I was going to be taking Titan to the b-e-a-c-h the following day and he said he "just might have to run into me there." I was psyched! As I got into my car the song that was playing was Taylor Swift's "Enchanted". (Full disclosure: I have the musical taste of a 14 year old.)This was a sign, right? A good sign.
When I got home I attempted to face-stalk John. Attempted. Do you know how many Johns, Jons, Jonathons there are? A LOT. I retold my roommate the story over and over, every time with a new conjecture. "You know, I bet he rescued his dogs." "He probably has a really great job, but volunteers, too." "He seems like one of those guys who has his shit together and wants to get married and have kids." "He probably shaves and automatically has that perfect stubble."
The next day I took Titan to the beach and waited... not very long. Five minutes into playing fetch Titan split his nail and started bleeding. As excited as I was with the prospect of seeing John there was no way I was going to let Titan bleed out. So I packed up the pup and took him to the vet. He got his toenail removed and a new rawhide bone.
I've seen John since then. We run on the same trail and always share a "Hi" or wave but no conversations.
I'm cool with that.