We made eye contact, briefly. She looked angry, exhausted but determined like nothing I've ever seen. 
I don't know her name, her age or any bits of her story. I don't even know whether she's still alive. 

In the last couple of months I have been on a mission to lose some of that corona weight I had put on in the last 2 years. Since I am an all-or-nothing person, I signed up to a running training program to spend the next 13 weeks running 3-4 times a week and maybe finally run the 10k under 55 Minutes. 

My training was simple, my watch would tell me the goal of the day (time or distance or both) and I would put my headphones on and just run. Often I had no particular route planned. The watch said, "Run for 45 Minutes at an easy pace" so I would just run wherever curiosity brought me that day. 

One day, a couple of weeks into the training, I ran this really pretty road in one of the richest parts of Berlin. 
The sidewalk is flanked with houses, big houses, villas. There is one right next to another, with each meter of running distance they would get fancier and bigger. 
In my head I am wondering about price per square meters, what kind of work the owners possibly do, is that generational wealth or self-made?
Anyways, as I am trucking along, slightly sweaty but feeling good overall I notice this figure in the distance. 

It's hard to describe, but even from far away she looked odd. I notices a HUGE red sweater. Like XXXXXXL size. It's best described when a toddler wears their parents sweater and potters around in it. That's how it looked like but adult size. 
The next thing I noticed were her legs as I got closer. I don't think I've ever seen legs this thin. Those anatomical models of the human skeleton, it was that with skin around. There were arms and hands equally thin. 
Lastly I noticed her face, wrapped deep inside the hoodie. 
It was a tiny face with wrinkly, paper-like skin, her lips were bloodless, the nose pointy and the area around the yes was sunken deeply into the head, surrounded by dark rings. 
Out of her nose snaked a feeding tube. The type one might get at the hospital that pumps calories from a bottle right down into your stomach. She was clearly sick, most likely terminally ill. 

Then I noticed her eyes. 

With every step I ran closer to her, she seemed to be running closer to me. Considering her fragile physique, I was surprised that she was on 2 feet. But she had determination in her steps, one after another, walking down that sidewalk like it was a catwalk. 

Her eyes were small and almost disappeared in the darkness of the hoodies but they shone bright like little LED spotlights. There was determination, power, fearlessness and sheer life blasting right out of those eyes. 

Over the course of my running training I saw her 3 times, always on the same stretch of road. In the last few weeks I stared to alter my router to be on that road more ofter, however I could not find her anymore. 

I think about her from time to time. Especially when I am struggling during a run or when life gets tough otherwise. 

Wherever she is now, I hope she is well. 
Powerful. Fearless. Determined