Today I ran a 10k with some friends, friends who will probably never run on my suggestion again, as we huffed and puffed up 1,000 ft of vertical vineyard trails. It was one of the most demoralizing runs I’ve ever participated in, not so much because it was damn steep, 18% grade, but because of the man in red.

At the end of the first kilometer, I turn and realize I am alone, save for the man in red next to me.

“Ou est les autres?” I ask. (Where is everyone?)

“C’est toi,” he responds. “Courage.” (It’s just you. Be strong.)

We run and walk together for awhile, and when he is overly helpful about information on the next couple climbs, I ask how often he runs this trail.

“Once to pace it, once to mark it and once to clear it,” he says. And I notice his red shirt reads “STAFF” up the side.

“Oh. Do you have to run behind me?” I ask.

“Yes,” he says, checking his watch. (Perhaps you should speed up, is what he was thinking.) “You will see next 69 stairs, do you think you can make it up them in one go?”

Later we are chatting about running, and the man in red shares that he runs a 10k every day, with his mountain dog, a malamute of course. (Perhaps you should do the same, and then I could stop checking my watch, is what he was thinking.)

“Right here,” he says, “you can cut across this vineyard, since you are last.” (He said that outloud.)

All this witty repartee is second to the conversation that the man in red has with the race volunteers, the men and women at every turn, or aid station or parking blockade.

Bellowing “Aay-ooh” is how these people in red recognize one another. “Bonjour! Elle est le dernière du dix kilometres,” (the last person of the 10k race) he calls out. To everyone. 

“Aay-ooh. Le dernière du dix. Le dernière du dix!”

I couldn’t decide whether to consider him my personal motivational coach, or to cry. In the end, I met his wife, found out the names of the best (no one appreciates them) Swiss wines, and let the man in red coax me across the finish line before the 20k racers caught up with us. Aay-ooh!