Race

So this is a little late, but . . . I DID make it out to run with the Truckee Running Group.  We all met last Thursday for the inaugural race of the Underground running series, over at Martis Valley.  I arrived a little early, and was a little psyched out when other people started arriving.  It was really really easy to see that they were all Runners (with a capital R), long of leg, trim of torso and short of shorts, all of 'em -- I think 20 or so showed up.  I knew I was out of my league, but swallowed my fear and stood up milling around and chatting with everyone for a few minutes.  It seemed like a very nice group of people, very open and friendly and I was quickly put at ease.  I was also quickly put in my place, cause the race started (Go!) and almost immediately I settled into what would be my finishing place, 3rd from the back.  4 miles.  My initial goal was to finish in 45 minutes; I actually finished in 48 minutes.  The winning male and female (a married couple, no less) finished in under 27 minutes -- super fast.  We cheered in the last finishers, then headed out to a local brewery for pizza and beer and another 2 hours of conversation.  

I am really happy to have met all of these cool folks.  Although just about everyone in the group was an accomplished runner with years of experience, they were very open and accepting to a newbie like me, and I pretty instantly felt like I met a new group of friends.  These guys are super accomplished and many super fast (one guy had been a world class runner, and had some 2:20 marathons back in the day) and thus have tons of great advice (I gotta keep up with my hill repeats).  The next race is next week (every other week), and there are various and sundry runs in between.

I will at the very least join them for the races; I am still not sure I want to run with a group on a regular basis both because I am so slow and because I do enjoy running on my own.  We'll see how it all progresses.

Anyhow, the day after I headed to Marin for my week of work, and worked and slept and ran not at all.  I got back home yesterday, slept for yet another huge passel of hours, and am finally feeling at least a little like myself today.  I hope to get out later for a run . . . .