I am lucky to have a great running tribe that is ever-evolving, flexible, supportive and very creative!
When I first joined Love Training More, I was concerned about losing a group to run with as I was definitely a dog runner. I love running in a pack and for the longest time I was part of a running group that was pretty structured. There’s something to be said about having a group to chat with or suffer in silence with; to celebrate with or hold hearts with; or to learn, to compare notes, to laugh, to cry, to be…. But it is such a challenge to balance life, love, work and running schedules and getting to defined practice times can sometimes be impossible, so in order to have access to awesome coaches like Erin, Linda and Janet (check them out! https://lovetrainingmore.com) meant going to a personalized on-line model and having to access the cat runner in me. I would need to leave the pack, embrace more solo runs and find a different kind of a tribe.
My biggest fear turned out to be my biggest surprise! Turns out that an on-line tribe is more present and possibly more connected than I ever thought possible. Another very obvious thing, while we have our own tribe, all the other runner tribes our there so very interconnected. While runners can sometimes feel lonely, they are NEVER alone.
This runner has been feeling a bit lonely lately and knows that some of her tribe have been experiencing that too. We all seem to be on different plans, with different goals, different long run days and different paths. Some are doing triathalons, some are travelling to far-off places, some are coming back from injury, some are doubling down on goal pace, some are vacationing… But we always try to reach out and see if we can get one run, a start of a run, a warm-up to a different workout or a portion of a run in common. Anything to connect, to touch base…it really does matter.
So for this past Saturday, the call goes out to the tribe and it turns out that 4 of our 5 regulars (Allana is tapering for her IronWoMan next week) were in….so how to plan a 14K, 15K, 20K with intervals and 26K to get the most time together as possible? Oh and did I mention that none of us start from the same spot? While challenging, it was going to get done. We would at least spend around 10 plus K together and then everything else would fall into place. It was made clear though that for me who had the 26K, this was going to be the NO WORRIES LONG RUN. Not worrying about pace or about time. This was about being with my tribe, reconnecting and having a great chat. While we ended up being 3 and not 4, the run was fantastic and the tribal lessons did not disappoint….
“We’re sticking to our distances this time….this is a good thing”, Sarah tells me after she’s just rocked her intervals on rolling terrain that I convinced her would be a good thing to practice for her Valley aspirations. We are both infamous for pushing limits, different ones maybe, but pushing nonetheless! That she was saying this out loud and replanting her route due to some creative parking lot running to finish off an interval, reminded me that I need to be careful as my weekly Ks are building to long forgotten marathon training territory. Not only that, she inadvertently made me remember that I’ve not felt solid in a run past 22K in a long time… time to stick to the plan!
“I’m determined”, Jody whispers in my ear as she’s catching up to me after she’s told us, in her under-no-certain-terms-are-you-to-argue-with-me voice that she so very rarely uses, to keep running and to NOT wait for her. This is not something runners do, especially on a NO WORRIES LONG RUN but Sarah & I just looked at each other and knew not to argue with her so we kept on running at a moderate pace across the bridge knowing we’d stop at the other end and wait for her anyway. Win-Win as far as I was concerned. Then there she was, right there. I was struck by her strength and her spirit coming back from injury. And to be more amazing, she followed that with “I know I’ve got that determination in my favour”. She was running in her kilometre. That was awesome. Runners need to know where and what to dig for in the moment they need it. I told myself not to forget this later on at the 22nd kilometre.
“Never Give Up”, a shout out to my inspirational Coach Erin. She just smashed her 5K PB on a bridge in the middle of the night. While she doesn’t run with us, she is the chief inspiration for our tribe. She showed us her #FierceAndFearless mode and inserted the #IAmTheStorm 4th K. This gave us our buzz for the run….we were motivated! She is Maritime Runner Famous : https://maritimerunner.ca/midnight-magic-on-confederation-bridge
“Are you with Love Training More?”, a random runner asks Jody and me as we are trying to figure out where Sarah is with her intervals. We had just had some strange interactions with random walkers (it is weird what people notice when out for a Sunday walk), and this strong looking runner stops for a chat. Turns out that Suzanne is also a LTMer with Coach Linda and recognized us from our on-line community activities. We do the typical runner chat about distance, route, weather, training plans and in this case, how awesome Love Training More is! The tribe became clearer. Here was a lone runner and this flyby connected her to our tribe. What a great reminder that runners are NEVER alone.
So today I’m celebrating my tribe. We were able to connect on a NO WORRIES LONG RUN. I know we won’t be able to do this every weekend, but it is reassuring to know I can look forward to it happening every so often. I love that our tribe is ever evolving and the potential to add new runners is only as far away as a message. That is an invite folks….looking for a tribe? Reach out. This goes both ways:)
Can’t leave this blog today with also celebrating a successful 26K run….thanks to my tribe. In the first half, they provided me with the nuggets I needed to get through the second solo half. You NEVER run alone.