I don't know how much I've written about it here, but I really wish I could find a running group to join that met up at times that worked for me. As of now none of the ones around me do. So I guess the next best thing would be finding someone to run with. A training partner or something. The problem is that I have the people meeting and friend making skills of an orangutan.
A couple days ago I was picking my son up from karate when I saw some guy who looked to be about my age standing around waiting for his kid. He was wearing running gear, including a reflective vest and an iPod strapped to his arm. I thought hmm, this might be a guy I should get to know.
Then I noticed kids walking up to him and asking why he was wearing the vest, because it made him look like a crossing guard. The guy proudly proclaimed he was a runner and that he ran to the karate place (how he expected his kid to get home I don't know). Dude was really revelling in the fact that he was being noticed and he couldn't be more happy to share his being a runner with them.
That made me wonder about this guy. Until I saw he still had his D-tag (a disposable timing chip) affixed to his shoe from the Baltimore Running Festival over a month ago. Probably wanting someone to ask him what it was so he could tell them about his running the marathon or whatever.
At this point I knew fella was more interested in people noticing that he's a runner than he is in actually being a runner. And even if he's a better/stronger/faster runner than I am he has nothing to bring to the table that could help me out as a runner. So I declined to approach him and strike up a chat about pounding the pavement and I remain a solitary runner.
But then again, what if I totally misjudged the guy and he'd be the best partner imaginable for me? Guess I'll never know...
Sometimes people who like attention are also very good runners. Yup!
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