Wanna Run?

Last evening's jog (and yes, I did jog instead of plod so you know this is going to be a happy blog post) was simply wonderful.  You know that warm feeling you get in your legs when you are just in the groove and know it's going to be a good run?  I had that feeling all evening.

On Monday evenings, my son runs at a local county park with his cross country team.  Having nothing else to do, I decided that I, too, was going to run at the park.  This, of course, brought nothing but embarrassment and shame to my 14 yo son.  So I promised to run in the north end of the park, while he and his mates trained in the south end.

It has been almost a year since I have had the pleasure of running on earthen running paths.  This particular park had a 3 mile loop that went along and over oxbows, waterfalls, through meadows and forest.  Part of the path was maintained with mulch which felt wonderful to run on after the past month of running on asphalt!  It was a new week in the C25K plan, so it called for a new running duration of three whole minutes.  Three! Now, that might not seem like a lot, but let me tell you...when you are in as lousy shape and condition I am, 90 seconds was an eternity.  Last evening, however, the longer jog passed and I was wishing for more (I didn't, however, push it).  I ran alone in a quiet world save for my breath and some musical cues turned down to a bare whisper on my MP3 player.  It was work, but it was pleasure.

My run, of course, was much shorter than my son's training, so I ended up killing about an hour waiting on him.  And this is really where my evening was really and truly made.  See, the south end of the park has a very well maintained 1.3 mile loop that many runners were using--not just the x-country team.  It was, at first, nice to see other runners--just observe them and know that I know a bit of the pleasure and the achievement each of them put into their run.  Then one runner saw that I was sitting in my truck with my exercise outfit and asked if I wanted to run with his group.

I can hardly explain just how much that meant to me.  I am obviously a Clydesdale's Clydesdale.  Anyone with running experience would know that I would never be able to keep a pace on par with what they can do.  And yet, his encouragement to join them was, well, it was a gift even if I politely declined, explaining that I had already worked out and was waiting on my son.  I read other blogs and I follow other runners on twitter.  I know about this "community" of runners but have never felt a part of save for a few runners I have connected with via Twitter.  And that's not negative self talk.  I simply have not explored the social side of this endeavor.  Last night, I caught a glimpse of being part of it.

I told my son that next Monday I'm running the south loop.  There were many more people out there than his group so no one would need to know I'm his Pa.  I don't expect that anyone will ask me to join them as happened last evening.  But I believe there will be something gained in just being around other people who run.