Finding a sense of community

I've always embraced the solo nature of running. I love being able to head out for a long run to clear my head, loosen my muscles and enjoy some peace and quiet. I've never understood runners who do it for the sense of community — until now.

After a fun, chatty run with two Pacers friends last night, we all headed to Eggspectation in downtown Silver Spring for a late-night happy hour. The restaurant gave us happy-hour prices on drinks, and let a group of almost 20 sweaty, red-faced runners occupy its back room for a couple hours.

It was SO much fun. I talked to a 5-minute miler training for the Boston Marathon; a 10-minute miler who ran 5 miles to work yesterday; and a group of runners planning to do one of those crazy all-night, 178-mile running relays from Upstate New York to the Bronx (click here to check out the Ragnar Relay series); a former college runner who had a pulmonary embolism last fall who's planning to run the National Marathon March 21 (you KNOW I'll be thinking of her when I get tired in the half). I also saw a running friend who's been injured, who came just to enjoy the feeling of being in a community of runners. Which now, I TOTALLY get.