Am Runner

That is the title of this blog and that is who I am. I went to the gym and lifted today at 4 am, then raced over to the track to meet up with the group. The workout was 2 times 20 minutes at tempo pace.

What exactly is "tempo"? I am not even sure of what my pace should be, but I think I was running around 6:40, as far as I could tell. I lost the rest of the group because some decided to do 4 by 10 minutes at tempo instead. A few fell off the back in favor of hitting the pool. That left me running alone in the dark. Am runner. Yep. It was hard and it was early, but it was great. I had to adjust my attitude at first, and then I was there. My hamstring still aches, but I tried to ignore it. I am looking forward to a long Saturday run at a comfortable pace again. I miss Tracy terribly, but I must say, I love Jen and our pace.

My girl came home from school and told me how disappointed she was that no one would run with her at lunch. They have a group called "Road Runners" that encourages the kids to run laps around the field during lunch. She mostly loves it and looks forward to participating. Usually she runs with her friend, Mason. Today she was sad that she did not have a "running buddy". This is funny, because I shared with her my same delimma hours earlier. It occured to me that anything is more fun with friends, including exercise, but sometimes, it is nice to blow off some steam in the silence of our own heads.

Is this a universal thought? Are we trained from a very young age to do everything in a partnership or group? Why do we feel at a loss or shunned if we are running solo? I must admit, I eventually got into a groove, but I still felt a little self-conscious running alone when I passed by random people from track coming the opposite direction. Why? Ridiculous. I tried to adjust my attitude to believe that I was ultra cool and completely comfortable in my isolation. I almost convinced myself by the time I caught up with one of my "running buddies" in the trails with 8 minutes left of the second set.