Hello bloggers, readers, fellow humankind...

So this is my seconds...third...maybe fourth attempt at blogging if you count my xanga which I only wish I could still pull excerpts from. Anyway, this blog holds a new concept about a journey. A journey through many many miles. This post signifies my start with a new team in a new (old) location. A journey to possible...greatness? That we will have to see about. My goal with each post will be to talk about my progress in each week and also a (running) topic of my choosing. Let's begin shall we?

This week I began running with a development group...not a club. Therefore, the objective is indeed to develop. This is something that I hope to do. his means that each week I have specific objectives (miles, workouts). I made a discovery this week that I had not given much thought in the past, but now I must admit...confess. I am terrible at pacing my runs...unless I am on a track. Most of the time I try not to wear a watch running at all because most of my runs are out and back and I am very OCD about either matching my out time or negative splitting. Wearing a watch became necessary this week when my Coach began telling me what pace to run my miles at. Oh...new concept. I thought about this and I was like but wait...in College I was always on pace for track workouts, good job Meredith. But not really good job Meredith because I was running with a pack and once again, never wore a watch. This reminded me of all the times I started out a 5k like it was a 400 meter dash only to struggle later. It also reminded me of the one time I raced using a watch and strategically paced my miles and landed a pr...hmm. That's weird. (Mind you...this is one year after I collapsed at this same race through the finish and a man from the stands said "What's that? Road kill?). Anyway, so in logging my runs and miles this week I couldn't help but realize that I was not any good at that. For instance when told to run miles at 7:25 pace...its not good to come through at like...6:50. And how? I asked myself...i don't know. I mean sure, not every run is flat and sometimes they are downhill...but how does this happen? Needs work that's for sure. The good news is that as the week went on this improved...somewhat. So that is a summary of week one for you aside from a close encounter with a skunk, but don't worry I made it.

Topic: People who refuse to smile or acknowledge when on trails.

 This is something I feel strongly about. As a runner, I feel I can fairly say that I understand that not every day is an awesome day for running. I mean I enjoy running and most of the time I look forward to it, but there are certain days when I don't really feel like going to a busy trail and seeing a bunch of random people I may or may not know. On these days I usually go to a more desolate trail. BUT regardless of where I am running, I ALWAYS acknowledge the people I pass on the trail, especially runners. There are two categories of avoiders. 1) People who see you, but pretend they don't. 2) People who make it clear that they see you but make no acknowledgement of your presence. I don't get it. First, to people who pretend they don't see me...you see me, I know you do. This trail is less than three feet across. I hope you feel at least a little bad that I just smiled at you or said hello and you did nothing. Second, to people who make eye contact with you and do not acknowledge you...why? I know you see me. I know because you are looking at me. In fact, a lot of times these people look angry. But the thing is...I didn't make you come out here...I didn't make you step out onto this trail so don't be mad at me about it. I just wanna be like "hey, we are in this together," but apparently they don't feel this shared bond. It's really too bad. THEN there are the people who you kind of know, but they pretend they don't know you. I'm like HELLO i was in second grade with your daughter and you recognize me (this is not an actual example)! Anyway, I bring this up because the past week I have experienced this quite a bit,but you know what? I won't let the haters steal my shine. Further, I have noticed that the "true" runners always seem to smile. Take that definition as you will.

Until next time.
Next week: running skirts.