i found a little local running group on the web this week.  last night i told hubby about it and this morning we got up at our normal weekday time and went to our favorite shopping plaza to stalk meet them. 

we got there around 07:15 and the website said that they met at 07:30 but didn’t specify where.  we stretched and stood around for a while and then i resigned myself to the fact that we had somehow missed them and we started running.  we ran an easy one mile loop around the park (no walking) and got back to where we started.  we saw some folks over by the parking lot so we started walking over to see if it was them but they got in a car and drove off so we were pretty sure it wasn’t.  we started back to the loop to run another mile when we saw a guy that looked like a runner.  we stopped him and asked him if he knew of a running group that met there saturday mornings and we were pleased to find that he was one of the leaders.  we walked with him back to the parking lot where his partner was talking with a woman who was a beginning runner.  introductions went around and it was decided that the partner was going to take the woman around the loop we had just done and the guy we met was going to take us on a three+ mile loop around the whole plaza. 

it was a nice course that they had plotted out and it was nice to have someone to talk with.  unfortunately, i didn’t time it but i’m pleased to say that i only walked less than five minutes of it so i feel like it was a pretty decent time.  it was by far my longest continuous running in i-couldn’t-tell-you-when.  i really liked the guy we ran with.  he was very nice, about my age – probably just a few years older – and he didn’t make me feel bad about being a slowpoke.  he even tried to give me some pointers.  toward the beginning of the run he asked me, “how do you breath when you’re running?” my response was, “i gasp,” which he seemed to find humerous.  he then tried to teach me better breathing techniques which i will try to work on but the gasping just comes naturally.  really, when i’m doing any kind of physical activity, i sound like i’m dying.  i can make it just fine, but you will think that i’m getting ready to keel over. 

when we were finished with the three mile loop, we were back at the parking lot with the other two.  we talked for a few minutes before parting ways.  sunday mornings they do a 10k trail run at the local park but i’m not so sure i’ll make that.  giving up both sleep-in-mornings seems a little excessive to me.  i’ll probably try to rotate one or the other each weekend.  hubby will probably do both because he’s much more devoted than me.  there is also a thursday run over the bridge.  i’m looking forward to those because they do dinner and socializing afterward (and to be perfectly honest the whole reason i brought the group up to hubby is because i desperately want to make friends around here) but the thought of doing laps over the bridge intimidates me quite a bit.  us orlandoans don’t take well to inclines.  but we’re being social and getting exercise so this is a good thing.  who knows, maybe i’ll build up to doing all three runs each week.  and there was a reward this morning.  after our four miles of running, hubby took me to chick-fil-a for a yummy breakfast biscuit.  hmmm, what would the reward be on sundays?