Social running

This past week I was reminded of a blog post I was going to write (and may actually have written and posted, lol) last fall that was inspired by a twitter conversation about running and the social aspects of it during a group fun run with my awesome running club.........Last year a very opinionated person online made what I considered to be a snide comment about a local 5k in their area that was having a dinner the night before, a breakfast prior, then food afterward about how running a measly 3.1 miles was not going to burn off even a tiny fraction of the calories that would be consumed by people participating in the race and who may or may not be partaking of the sponsored food festivities.  When I called them on sounding somewhat elitist, it continued to get worse in my opinion.  The comment was made about nobody else was going to run those miles, that running was a solo activity........

Well, for some it is solely a thing they do for the solitude but for many it is a chance to get out and socialize while doing something they love with like-minded people.  Anything that gets others out and running and continuing to run is a great thing.  So what if there are activities planned around an organized race.  So what if it's "only" a 5k.  So what if there are food festivities planned around a race.  Just because it's not your "thing" doesn't mean that it's not something that motivates others to get out and run and keeps them enthusiastic. Running with others makes you run slower, faster, longer, shorter than what you otherwise would.....and those changes may just be what was needed on that particular day, week, month and so on.  It keeps things fresh, mind, body, soul.  It gets those feet pounding the pavement just that much more.

Anyway, that's just my opinion. Maybe it's because I HAVE to run so many of my miles solo that I think differently on this matter.  I do however welcome the chance to race or run with a group like I did this morning (33 of us by the way!!).  Sometimes it's nice to talk to someone other than myself or Elsie during a workout--she doesn't talk back by the way although I have caught myself replying to myself, lol.

Opinions, thoughts, diatribes more than welcome :-).