I Joined a Run Club!

Yep. It's true. I did. So after running almost exclusively on the treadmill for pretty much the last two years, I decided I'm bored. Not super duper bored, just bored. And a little lonely. I have so much fun when I get to meet up with my friends at races, and then it's just me, all alone, at the gym. NO MORE!! If I ever feel like I could have done more in terms of training for Moab, it would have been running more outside.

Saturday was my first meeting with the group from Runner's Roost. I learned that there would be people of all abilities, with distances ranging from 4 to 20 miles on the weekend runs. SOUNDS PERFECT. Obviously I was in NO shape to be running that many miles. Six days after Moab? NO WAY. But what I wanted to do was get a feel for the group. See if it was something I maybe would enjoy. I've been training solo for so long, I didn't know if I would feel left out, too slow, too weird, you know, all the social anxieties I haven't dealt with in forever. Anyway.... it was rad. I was not familiar with where we were running, and everyone looked out for me to make sure I didn't get lost. A possibility since I was the slowest runner there. They chatted with me and made me feel welcome (warm fuzzies). The coach ran with me and she was SUPER AWESOME to talk to. I decided then and there that they were a pretty wonderful group of runners, and I would be back.

Regular weekday runs are on Wednesdays. I picked a good week to decide to join! With promise of "easy" running, 3-4 miles, and a sunny evening, I headed to Louisville. And was met with... an EASTER EGG HUNT!! How fun! Running AND looking for eggs to win prizes??? My kind of activity. I started out a bit fast, and ended up chasing a group of speedy ladies. While looking for eggs around the halfway point, I met a guy who is training to run Bear Chase 50 mile with his mom for her birthday. HOW AWESOME!! I didn't find any lucky eggs, but they gave away TONS of stuff, and I managed to win some Saucony arm sleeves. Although they were confiscated less than 30 minutes after I won them.

The best part about the weekday runs is that kids are welcome. I wanted to check the terrain before heading out to see if A would be ok on her bike (even 3-4 easy miles is too much for her to run right now). Looks like she will be joining me in the weeks to come.