Bringing back the fun in the run – Step 3 (a running “blind date”)

(Recap of Step 1 and Step 2)

Find a running buddy.  Better yet, find a new running buddy you’ve never met before AND have your first run together amount to a 20 miler.  True story….

Two weeks ago, Scott was on his long run and bumped into Carrie.  Ironically, they were both at the same point in their mileage and struck up a conversation.  Scott returned home and relayed how he thought she and I might run at approximately the same pace and better yet, because we live in close proximity to each other, perhaps we might help each other on long runs or trail runs.  On a lark, I took the little information I had and found Carrie on DailyMile.  I hesitated on what to do next because after all I did not want to be viewed as some freaky stalker runner.

I quickly threw caution to the wind and emailed her via DailyMile and introduced myself.  What could I lose?  You only live once, right?  We emailed a number of times and somewhere during the email conversation, we planned to run our next long run together.  We didn’t start small; oh no, that would be way too safe!  We went for 20 miles!  As the week progressed, Scott commented, “Maybe you should’ve gone for a shorter distance for your first time out together?”  To which I replied, “Naahhhhh!” 

We had our “blind date” today and it was great!!  It was greater than great J

We immediately got talking and getting to know each other and before we knew it, we were done.  20 miles...just.like.that.  The pace was much faster than I would have maintained had I been alone and the time just flew.  With a steady few weeks behind me consisting of “blah” runs and diminishing motivation, this was the kind of run I needed.  Refreshing.

I hope we’ll have future running dates, but for now, it’s safe to say my first “blind date” run was a huge success!  Thanks again Carrie!