People ask me often why I include my athletic pursuits on what started as a food and recipe blog. I don't blog about running to toot my own horn or because I'm some sort of awesome athlete (HA! That would be hilarious). The main reason is that the running community is amazingly welcoming and a huge resource that I'm happy to enrich. I blogged for years and felt like I operated in a vacuum. I started including mentions of races and running two years ago when I took up a healthier lifestyle. Now, I have a huge community of people I can rely on when I have a question about a new pain or need feedback on a potential training plan. I would have never met so many people had I not started included race reports or training insights on my blog. |
| Sorry, mom, I'm still wearing the sunglasses you hate |
I did my second-annual Waterfall Glen Black Friday Run. Last year, I did 9.35-miles in about an hour and a half. This year, I did nine miles in 1:28. I also had a great chat with Susan, who is one of the founding members of the Frankfort-New Lenox Running Club. It was a blast. It's so much easier to keep pushing my butt up hills when I'm mid-sentence with someone. Thank, Susan!
And yes, I finally wore the lululemon knock off jacket. It was really cold and did the trick in keeping me toasty. I'll see how it holds up in the laundry and report back.
Next up, I met Jenny, her friend Barb and Irina for a run this morning at my beloved Busse Woods. We met at the elk pasture and Irina and I knocked out four miles in no time. She's as lovely in person as she is on her blog and I hope she'll run with me again.
An interesting aspect of running is its ability to bridge gaps. Susan is older than me and Irina is younger. Both have different professions than myself and live in different suburbs, but we had plenty to talk about. It's hard to make friends as an adult, especially without kids.
Running makes it easy to make friends. Blogging about running makes it even easier.
9 comments:
What a fun post!
Whatt of course I'll run with you again! Thanks for being patient with my slower pace and making the run fly by. Running always seems to bridge gaps between people and unites them over pure enjoyment of the sport. It's very special and rewarding to share something you love with others, and blogging is certainly a part of that!
This post is fantastic and spot on!
I've met all my "Chicago area" friends through the running blog. Without it, I'd just be showing up to races by myself. Now, there's always someone to talk to or meet up with. I also love following the journeys of the bloggers.
Just washed my jacket ( i wore it Friday also). i wash all my running clothes on delicate and hang to dry and it held up fine :-)
My friend Laura just made a comment when she was visiting about how I've really built up an impressive network of friends in the short time I've been here. I agreed and said a lot of it does have to do with my picking up running. It's a much more social hobby than most people realize...
Thanks for the follow up, Jennifer! I usually hang up my sports stuff to dry instead of putting it in the dryer.
If it wasn't for blogging about running I wouldn't know anyone in the area! I don't think other blog genres have nearly the friendship making capabilities of running blogs.
Great post. I totally agree about making friends through running. I've done a few "extra curriculars" as an adult - played in community bands, volunteered with the American Cancer Society. I've met a lot of people, and made some Facebook friends along the way, but I've met TONS of people through running, and have bonded with them way more than any of the other folks I've met as an adult. Also, I agree, it's fun to meet people who you might not have anything else in common with, but you still have running, and that's enough! :)
I feel like I can talk to almost anyone while we are running, whether they are younger or older, like you said. And whether we have anything in common or not!
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