Joined a Running Group

Last night I joined a running group :) The Greater Fort Lauderdale Road Runner Club. After months of searching for fellow crazy runner friends, I finally found a group that welcomed me with open arms (cheesy I know).

Before I go into my spiel about the group, let me first tell you that I swam before work that morning. This week I wanted to swim 3 times a week for about 15-20 minutes a swim. I sporadically read my "Your Best Triathlon" book and read a blurb about creating shorter workouts for one of the three sports, but just doing that sport more frequently. The example they used was swimming. So, by swimming three times a week for about 45 minutes total is better than swimming once a week for 20-30 minutes. Therefore, I followed that advice since my Olympic triathlon is next week and like I stated before I'm a little fearful of the swim. I also swam Friday morning, and it felt incredible. I think I'm getting a hang of this whole swimming thing.

Ok. So now Thursday night. Let me start off by explaining that I tried to join two other running groups and had no success. One of the groups I actually tried meeting up with on three different occasions. I went early, called the number they had, and pretty much never had any success. I was a little bitter, but more disappointed than anything. I tried e-mailing another group, but they never got back to me. So when I saw this group booth at the 5K I did last week, I decided to give them a try. This group is a little more publicly visible than the others so that was a positive! They had a facebook page, and I looked it up. They had plenty of weekly workouts, but it seemed like the Thursday night workout was my best bet. So I went to meet my new running group. They were easy to find with their matching orange shirts, and I was instantly excited to join them. I met with the leaders of the group, and really enjoyed talking to them. They ended up pairing me with a girl around my pace (I honestly think she's a bit faster than I am) and we talked the whole time. We did 6 miles! SIX! AND we managed to pull it off with under 9 minute miles. As we talked, I felt like we could easily be friends. She was just really nice, and just overall pushed me. After the run they had all kinds of goodies: waters, gatorade, bananas, and PIZZA! You paid 5 dollars but it was well worth it. I stayed for a long while, but I'm so glad I went. My husband was pretty understanding (which he always is). A+

On another note: My grandpa was put in the hospital for a bunch of medical things. Nothing too horrible, but it was pretty bad. I found out Wednesday night, but I didn't know how serious it was until I was driving to meet up with the running group. I cried on the way there, but was better by the time I started running. It goes to show you again how mentally relaxing running can be. After the run I was in tears again. I went to the hospital Friday morning, thanks to my awesome boss and it was really good. My grandpa had outpatient surgery which was good, and I got to see him before they put him under anesthesia. He was so excited that I came, and it made me happy. He's slowly recovering right now, and should be home soon. It's crazy when you see loved ones in the hospital. I'll keep everyone updated!