Thursday night, I ran in the inaugural Esprit de She race in Chicago. It was a 10K and a 5K race. I signed up to do the 10, but because the temperatures were so high, the 10 was canceled so everyone had to do the 5K. Part of me is happy about that because I would have pushed through to do the 10 and perhaps regret it later.
In any event, I was only one minute slower than my fastest 5K time. Not bad considering the heat was forcing us runners to go slower. If the temps were decent, I can only imagine what my 10K time would have been as well as my 5K split.
After the race, there were mini massages, nail polish changes as well as some food and adult beverages for runners to enjoy. I had some chocolate pudding made with something I would never have thought to use as the base and it was so delicious.
Anyway after the race while I was hydrating (BECAUSE IT IS SO HOT AND YOU NEED TO HYDRATE) I ended up talking to a couple of women who were there doing the race as a fun run and as time for them to hang out. We ended up, chatting about running in general and our time for the race considering the heat.
After chatting with them, I really wished that I had friends to run races with. Most races have some sort of post race celebration. Food and drinks as well as the chance to just sit down and enjoy the accomplishment of finishing whatever the race distance was. I have done a couple of races where I’ve met up with people at the end, but it really is a lot of fun to do races with friends.
Don’t get me wrong. I love doing races because it is a way for me to push myself more than I already do. But every once in a while, it would be nice to run a race where it is planned as a meet up with friends. It would be a great alternative to “typical” friend meet ups of going to a bar for drinks or meeting at a restaurant for food. Especially if you have friends who are really picky about what they eat and where they can eat.
At the post race party Thursday, I did post on Facebook about wanting to have friends to do races with. Judging by the response I got, there are people willing. I just have to be a bit more organized about it. In any event, next year I’m going to try really hard to make this a reality of organizing an outing around a race or a meet up with friends centered around working out.
Although, the more I think about it, I just wish I had friends to do things with period. I try but it usually ends up with people not being interested, the location is “inconvenient” or they will agree and then end up busy so they can’t do anything. Guess I need to work on ways to overcome that stuff.
