To bag or not to bag?

I am not going to lie, I packed my bag yesterday morning to give the whole Nike Town Run Club a shot, but work was super boring yesterday and I really had nothing major to do by the afternoon. Did I contemplate bagging the run to just head home and go to the gym?

For about a half a second I really did. It wasn't because I didn't think I could do it or that it was only peaking (if I was lucky) 30 degrees. It was merely the thought of what can I do to kill the time till the run starts. Thankfully I had my book in my bag and pulled it out to read a few pages.

Up until this point I hadn't given much thought to what I was in store for and that is not typically me. For some reason I really think I just didn't care and wanted to give it a shot. If they were all record breaking runners, well then at least I knew where I was in the city and could bail at a moments notice to continue on with my own run.

At about 6:15 pm I headed on over to Nike Town...about a block from my office. Sweet! Once I got there I have to say I was a bit indifferent to what I saw. I know you can't judge a book by it's cover, believe me this much I do truly know, especially when you are talking about what the typical runner looks like. You may laugh, but I can guarantee that there is someone out there that could kick your butt quite easily and you would have never know it to just look at them because they were 2 or 3 times your size and/or age! Well, those people weren't at Nike Town last night...these were your typical very fit and in shape runners. Needless to say, since this was my first time in quite some time that I was back in the running scene, it did make me a bit peakish to think "am I going to be able to keep up with these people?".

After everyone had arrived (around 30 people), they set up tables with water, oranges, bagels, running logs, vests in case you forgot one, a box of clothes in case you didn't pack properly and reflective stickers should you want to wear those instead of the vest. I was very, very impressed by all this because it was also all free! Yes, can you believe it? I know I couldn't. Nothing is for free these days, especially a running club in Beantown.

After everyone logged in the store associates had cleared a part of the store so that we could do a group stretch and exercise before the run. Once that was done you formed your groups (depending on the distance you logged in for 3.5, 4.5-5 or 7.5 miles) and headed out. Since this was day one for me I opted for the nice distance of, you guessed it 7.5 miles! If you believed that, then you're the crazy one! I chose 3.5 miles and ran with two other newbies. One girl joined that night and another the week before.

Although it was butt cold out! I am not really sure where that phrase ever came from or if it even makes sense, but it was butt cold out...especially when we ran across the Mass. Ave. bridge! The head wind was killer! Once we crossed the bridge we took a right on Memorial Drive and ran to the Longfellow Bridge, which we used to cross back over the river . We followed the Charles back to the Dartmouth footbridge and headed back to the store to end the run. Even though it was rather freezing the views from Memorial Drive were beautiful and it was a very peaceful run.

All in all I am super happy with the night and will be joining them again next week. Everyone was super nice and too boot Shane the coordinator provided three large boxes of Luna bars for us to fill our bags with! :)

Oh, as for time I am gaging a 9:00+ pace...i didn't wear a watch (need a new battery), but the girl that ran last week said that was her pace and well I was ahead of her this week so I hope that is still true :)