That day was memorable only by its connection to the Camino de Santiago; it was the first time I heard the word Camino. I’d participated in the Kaiser Half Marathon and 5K in San Francisco held every winter. Did I run the half or the 5K? No matter, I’m sure I took full advantage of the brunch food planned for after with a group of Stella’s friends. Stella is significant, but not to this story, so I’ll explain her importance in another post. The group of us went to the Beach Chalet across from Ocean Beach and one of my favorite gathering haunts and a yummy way to recover all those lost calories! I sat between Stella and woman I’ll call Page. Page had recently walked the Camino de Santiago with her partner (well actually ex-partner now), and she talked with me about her walk. I’m inexplicably drawn to extraordinary challenges and I discovered that the Camino not only held this quality but also so much more in meaning and potential discovery. I did not jump right away into this newfound adventure. I put it on the backburner thinking it would be a grand gesture to myself when I reached the big five-O. At that time, I had quite a few years yet to get there.