After our harrowing escape from the village thugs, Times reporter Kristi Heim and I were passing through the Main Press Center back at the Olympic Green.

As we passed an internet cafe, we saw the Olympic Torch relay being shown on live television. "Hey!", remarked Kristi, "I think Gary Locke is carrying the torch today in Chengdu -- that would have been cool to see! I wonder what time he runs?"

Busy as we were, I laughed and jokingly said, "What are the odds we'd see him?".

And I swear, not more than 10 seconds later, we both gasped and laughed because indeed, former Washington governor Gary Locke was carrying the torch for his 200 meter share as the flame passed through Chengdu, China. And it was LIVE.

I fussed to grab a camera and made a couple of quick frames.

We can't get our internet connections arranged (hey, it's always fun spending two hours sitting in a bank at the Olympics) or my Times-issued cellphone to work (it's locked, it's unlocked, it's not working I know that for sure), but we did see the one person we knew out of 300 torch runners today in Chengdu.

You couldn't make this stuff up.