It is a sore morning for me my lovely blog readers! Yesterday was a beautiful day in Charlotte -about 75 degrees and sunny. The weather and the active nature of Charlotte make me glad I moved here. There are times when I miss living in Pittsburgh a ton and so focusing on the lovely weather and young population in Charlotte makes it a lot better!
Last night was a rare Monday night where my fiance was actually home and not working! So, we decided to make the most out of it and meet up with one of the local running clubs. They offered a 3.0 mile course or a 4.5 mile course. We decided on the 4.5 mile course and let me tell you, it was awesome! The course was through a nice neighborhood full of trees and other runners, people walking their dogs and riding their bikes plus they made sure to throw in some slight inclines and declines for good measure. The entire course actually ended up being about 5.2 miles for us according to my MapMyRun application because I may or may not have taken a wrong turn along the course and we went about 1/4 of a mile before we realized. OOPS : ) How is someone supposed to keep all those white arrows on the ground straight- I was rocking out to my 80's cardio station on Pandora - oh yes, that's right. There is an 80's cardio station on Pandora that I discovered last night has the most amazing mix of 80's songs to keep you motivated and dancing while you workout.
We held about a 9:30 pace through the whole run which is a bit slower than usual but for that long of a distance and it being the first long run - I was happy with that pace. We finished in about 50 minutes and afterwards everyone was supposed to meet up at a bar and grill up the street.
Now to the bulk of this post - last night I ran into members of the running cult! You know who they are - they are the people so obsessed with running that they can't wait to tell you about their next marathon. They run in snow, rain, ice and throw their personal safety and well being out the door to run, even through injuries and bad joints. They chug Gatorade and carboload before runs and laugh at your piddly 3.1 miles because tomorrow, they are running 17!
At the end of the course, everyone else that was there was wearing t-shirts from the marathons and half marathons they have finished, talking about their next big race. Making holier than thou statements about the top dollar places they get their running shoes. One man even saying "I hate Adidas - people go and buy those at Dicks Sporting Goods" with another man chiming in "Yea, why would you do that?" I chuckled in my head because the shoes on my feet were Adidas and I bought them at Dicks Sporting Goods last year. I chuckled because these "holier than thou" running people just finished the exact same course that I did in roughly the same time with their shoes that they obviously thought better than mine because I guess, they cost more? These people can discourage you but don't let them! I truly think, if you RUN then you are a RUNNER and it doesn't matter if you run 2 miles or 26 miles. You don't need all the gizmos and gadgets or $350 shoes - you just need to run.
Now, don't get me wrong. I do think its important to have the right shoes if you are running consistently to protect your feet but at the end of the day, if you have fuel in your body, water in your hand and shoes on your feet that are right for you in shape, style, fit and price range. Just Run.
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