This morning I joined the DC Capital Striders, a huge running group in the district, for an 8 mile run starting at Dupont Circle and continuing through the mall and around Potomac Park along the river. It was my first real run in a long time, and it felt pretty good, despite the cold temperatures and the early morning wake-up call (and the possibility of a nagging bit of pain in my left foot…yikes).
Yay for new running friends! I have been trying for a long time to join some kind of group for several reasons, reasons that I think apply to any runner in any city (unfortunately, I only attended one running meetup in Arizona and then never came back, because it was my first run after two months spent in Europe and/or moving across the country, and it was 105 degrees in July).
- Meet new people who share your same interest slash passion: running. Regardless of how serious you or your new running friends are about running, I have found fellow runners are some of the most friendly people around. Plus, it is nice to meet locals who you can call up to accompany you on a workout, or who will understand when you need to stay in the night before a race (and meeting some friends outside of my college’s social circle is a huge breath of fresh air, as a surprisingly large percentage of my graduating class of 600 ended up in DC).
- Encourage and motivate yourself to have better runs. Though I am usually a solo runner, it is much easier to push yourself when you have running partners who are also pushing themselves, especially when the times and distances of the runs are already set and structured.
- Find out about new races. One of the girls I ran with was telling me about a holiday 5K that was going on down by the Mall next weekend. Being that my normal group of friends does not include any well-informed runners, I am a bit out of the loop in general, so learning about new races going on in a city that I have probably lived in for less time than most others in the group is a huge bonus.
- Learn some new running routes around the city! Other people, especially people who are in charge of leading group runs, are the best resources for finding good places to run. For example, Potomac Park is somewhere I had never ventured, and it takes you away from the bustle of downtown DC drivers, with the added bonus of being absolutely beautiful.
After the run, I obviously rewarded myself with a bacon egg and cheese because it’s Saturday and everyone deserves some self-love every once in a while. I am not the kind of person who will easily get myself to go to a meet up with a bunch of people I do not know, so good on me for finally working up the energy and willpower to make it to one of these. I will be back.
discovergrid
