Running with the Ship of Fools

Saturday I decided to bite the bullet, wake up early and join Al's ship of fools running group. KB made it a little easier by agreeing to go with me and I knew Gretch would be running with them as well. Running not being my strong suit, I am always a little intimidated by the groups, but have been hearing about this one for so long I wanted to know what the hoopla was about. I met KB at her house and we ran down to Town Lake where the group meets just in time. We met Al and he told us there would be two groups one running 11 miles and the other 8 miles and that today's route would be hilly . I calmed myself down knowing that I'm strong enough and so what if I can't keep up, I'm not here to win any medals. We headed out down the trail and over to Stratford where the hills faced us. There is something fun about running in a group, like a pack of wild animals pounding the pavement. We wound our way up and down the hills and while I wasn't the fastest in the group, I felt pretty good and handled it all pretty well. By the time I was back at Town Lake for the last 5 or so miles I felt good knowing what was ahead and that I could handle it. One of the runners, Ryan, ran with us and then asked our names. "I'm KB," KB said. "I'm MK," I stated. We both looked at each other after we said it and smirked. "Did that seem weird to you?" We both happened to be wearing the EXACT same running skirt that day down to the color and gave our name as initials. "Yeah, I never thought about it before." KB said. We laughed and kept on running. Well I feel like I got a lot out of running with the group. At one point I found myself running faster than normal and thought that I should slow down, but realized I wasn't breathing any harder. Maybe my body is ready for the next step up. I think running in a group helps push you to the next level and out of your comfort zone, so yet again I pleasantly surprised myself.