5K

I ran a 5k today, it was a fun little food fundraiser for local charities called the feeding 5k. It was pretty darn cold today with a brisk wind, but all in all I enjoyed it finishing in second place. On Sunday I will meet up with the local running club for a long run that involves a lot of hills and some delicious coffee and bagels afterwards. I love running, but in the cold weather it sure does give me the sniffles.

Oh Life

So I was in desperate need of some running partners so I started attending Columbia Track Club workouts. It is not like professional training or anything, it's just a bunch of people getting together for a painful ritual if running. This is probably the most useful thing a runner can find, a running group. Whenever I am able to pack run I learn to pace myself so much better and to improve my speed at the same time. It is amazing and I love it. You can actually feel yourself getting better, even though it hurts, there are other people doing the exact same thing as you at that same moment who are enjoying it just as much as you are; I know it's a sick ritual, but I love to torture myself. There is nothing more satisfying than working yourself to your limit and achieving exhaustion...I believe that goes for almost all aspects of life...

With running groups like this I believe there is so much opportunity for runners of all abilities to join the group and improve themselves in anyway they see fit. You see this isn't some ultra competitive league that your in anymore. This is a world of people doing something for themselves, for their health, for personal glorification and satisfaction. Whether 400lbs or 140lbs, join a group, be friendly and introduce yourself, because I have always found these groups welcoming to all people, there is a pace setter for everyone. Team work is how the world has developed to what it is today and the best way to develop yourself is through the help of other individuals.

This is just my opinion on personal experience of course, there are factors in groups that can destroy an individual; factors that many people have experienced that are unpleasant. I, however, believe in the general good. In general find a group or organization out there is becoming more and more accessible, so I encourage everyone to find people with similar goals and help each other to reach those goals; motivation baby!

Thursday and Windy

I hate running into the wind, it always feels like I am not going anywhere. It is also getting colder and the short amount of time in Missouri in which we have perfect running weather is almost up; oh how I miss Chicago sometimes. I am lacking motivation to do a hard workout still, so I have basically been going for long runs, in this wind today it will probably feel like I am moving a half mile an hour. In other news I will be running the Cranberry Crawl this weekend in Columbia, it's pretty exciting.

Races

If anyone from Mid-Missouri happens to read this blog, upcoming races are as follows: XCX - Cross Country Xtreme Saturday, November 15, 2008, 9:00 AM start at Midway Sandbar 6401 Highway 40 W, Columbia, MO, Sandbar is behind Midway Travel Plaza Columbia, MO 65202. To view some info on the race and others go to http://www.offtrackevents.com/xcx.html.
This weekend there is the Cranberry Crawl 5K/10K Saturday, November 08, 2008, 08:00 AM Central Missouri Food Bank 2101 Vandiver Dr Columbia, MO 65201. http://ctc.coin.org/ is the columbia track clubs website if you are ever look for events.

Races

It has come to my attention that I do a poor job of searching for and finding races on the internet. My soon to be father-in-law always is able to find all these small races all over Missouri just by searching on the internet. So from now on I will begin trying to post Mid-Missouri upcoming races as I find them or here about them. If anyone would like me to do the same for their neck of the woods, feel free to let me know I will post. I really like supporting local races because they are generally a lot of fun and they are usually for a good cause.