Running & Friendships

Another thing that running has done for me over the years is helped me to develop some wonderful friendships. In high school, it was the other girls on the cross-country team. College brought many different running buddies over the four years, including the midnight running club, Eric who ran my first marathon with me, Ari and Sarah (who still are running buddies 8 years later when we are in the same town). Since we have been in Boston, I have had one primary running friend, Jen. She and I worked together in my first job at the hospital. We had talked about how we were both runners, and then one early morning, I was out for a run along the Charles River, and we ran past each other. We began running together, and then hung out with each other and our husbands. They became fast friends.

Running has yet again allowed me to develop a new friendship. Our new associate pastor, Dane and his wife, Laura, recently moved to Watertown. Somehow in our first conversation with Dane, it came up that I was a runner, and he wanted me to meet his wife, because she too loves to run. We met, and talked briefly. We commented that we should sometime run together, but over the next few weeks it never worked out. Finally, I invited her for a long run this past Saturday, and she was actually already registered to run the Wicked Half Marathon in Salem, MA and asked if I wanted to run it with her. So, as it turns out, the first time Laura and I hang out, we are running a half marathon. One of her coworkers, Beth, also ran the race with us. So for the next 13 miles, we chatted about our careers, husbands, previous races, vacations, and who knows what else. It was a beautiful day, great company, a really neat race, and just another reminder of why I love running so much!

The half marathon was a good warm-up for the full marathon in November. I felt great... injury free! I finished the race in 1:50:52, and that put me in 31/105 in my age group... not bad! I tend to be a pretty steady runner. Laura and Beth took off in the last mile and finished about a minute ahead of me. Check out the picture of the Wicked Half Marathon! Thanks for reading!