One of the things I was worried about when we decided to move to Georgia was that I wouldn't be able to find a running partner. Yes, I can always run by myself, and sometimes I do really like to do this. But it's much more fun to run with someone, plus I know someone is waiting on me so I have to get up and show up!
I was blessed to pretty much always have a running partner/partners the entire 8 1/2 years we lived in Arizona. My friend Melynda and I ran together for a couple of years. Then we had a group of ladies that would meet at our church building three days a week and run. Many started out as proclaimed "non-runners," but they were quickly converted. :o) We ran 5Ks together. We ran a 10K together. We even ran a 1/2 Marathon together with shirts that said "S.W.E.E.T." (Sisters Who Endure to the End Together). I made many new friends and we developed an awesome support system for each other. We talked about kid problems. We talked about work problems. We talked about girl problems. We talked about....problems. We helped solve each others' problems. We vented a bit. We told life stories. We talked about blessings we'd received. We talked about anything that would keep our minds off of the fact that we were running. Which is not always fun. We laughed. We sweated together. And I first learned what a blog was while running one day with the girls.
Included in my daily prayers about this move was a request that I'd find someone to run with. My prayer was answered a week after we moved in! The President of our Relief Society (church women's group), Anne, called to welcome me to the ward and see if we needed help with anything. She had noticed my email address (runningmom4@juno.com) on a New Sister form I'd filled out the Sunday before and asked if I was a runner. Oh. My. Goodness. "Yes!" I told her. She asked if I'd like to run with her sometime. I said, "When?!!!" We set a time for 7 am a couple of days later.
Let me tell you - the night before that first day of running with Anne I could hardly sleep! I hadn't run in about 3 weeks and was really feeling the need to run. Big time. And I was so excited! And a bit nervous, I must admit. "What if I'm a lot slower than she is?" I thought. I had only talked to Anne for a few minutes at church. "What if we don't have anything to talk about?" I thought (yes, I know the odds of two ladies having nothing to talk about are minute, but still...). And I must admit I was a bit nervous about running up all these hills we have in Georgia because we don't have hills in Arizona. Pretty much at all.
We ran that first day. We had plenty to talk about. And yes, she's a bit faster than I am, but as we ran the next several weeks I got faster! She never said anything about me being a bit slower than she is, she just kept saying she was happy to have someone to run with! And yes, the hills were a bit challenging, but I got better at them, too.
Once school started, and the crazy kids-in-school schedule began, we met most Friday mornings after all our kids were in school and ran. And I really enjoyed running with her and getting caught up on life.
Once school started, and the crazy kids-in-school schedule began, we met most Friday mornings after all our kids were in school and ran. And I really enjoyed running with her and getting caught up on life.
But the story doesn't end there. A bit of background: our realtor, Diane, was referred to us by one of John's managers here in our area. The first time we went househunting with Diane we got to talking and it came out that I'm a runner. "Oh, I could never be a runner," she said. (Yeah, I've heard that one before...) :o)
Fast forward a couple of months after we moved to Georgia: we bought a house in Diane's neighborhood and became friends with her and her husband Doug (they're also in our ward). We went out to dinner with them one Friday night and when they were dropping us off at our house Diane said,"I think I'd like to start running." What? I said something to the effect of "I remember 'somebody' telling me she could never be a runner." She said that she wanted to start. So we started that following Monday - I wanted to hook her before she had time to reconsider. We started at the very beginning of a running program I've used many, many times and she did great! We ran 3 days a week and got up to running 45 minutes each day and then she hurt her hip. So we walked for a couple of months while she was healing. We started back running about a month ago and Diane even told me she'd missed the running (see, another convert!). A few months ago Anne and I ran with Diane for her very first ever 5K race and she did awesomely!
Anne, Diane and I
Now Diane and I have a new victim running convert in our friend, Trudy, who started running with us when Diane started running again. Who also once told me, "I could never be a runner."
Ladies should learn to never say that to me. ;o)
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