Admittedly I am no pro at first dates. In fact, where it matters, I’ve really only had one 🙂 In other contexts, there have been a few here and there, like a “first date” playing racquetball or a “first date” with destiny. Anyway, Tuesday I had a rendezvous with a fellow DC runner, we’ll call him “Ben”. I put out a “Anyone need a running buddy?” on MapMyRun.com like 11 months ago, and he responded last Thursday. Fashionably late, I guess. We ultimately decided to meet Tuesday morning at 6:45am at a mutually known water fountain. I had two concerns from the outset: Snow and Pace.

For the snow, I wasn’t

sure how clear the paths would be after the snowpocalypse snOMGasm snowmaggedon winter weather we’ve had over the last 2 weeks. As I set out for the 2 mile journey to get to the water fountain, I opted for the road more traveled, fearing that my usual path would be under 18 inches of packed ice. It was a good choice, though it involved more traffic lights and slow-moving pedestrians (read: walkers). Made it to the water fountain only 2 or 3 minutes late, but Ben was there waiting. Feeling bad, I didn’t want to make him wait around any longer, so we shook hands and immediately discussed where to go. Quick agreement about most paths probably not being passable, we decided to go up.

From the outset, it was uphill seemingly forever. Having only run once on a treadmill for 2 miles since the Miami Marathon (which didn’t require much hill training itself), it would not have been my first choice. But hills ranked higher than uncleared ice shelfs similar to what sank the Titanic. Between dodging patches of ice and climbing hills, there wasn’t a lot of small talk. I learned he graduated high school the same year I graduated college (yikes!) and that he pulled an all-nighter writing a paper the night before and came straight from the library to meet me for a run (hardcore!). We followed the roads, letting the amount of snow dictate where we turned. Seemed like a good idea until we got a little lost… so my 5-6 mile run turned into almost 8.

As for my concern about

pace, well that’ll have wait for another post.

It was fun to have someone to run with, and it definitely motivated me to get out the door in the first place. I think we’ll be meeting up again, though not sure when yet though, so stay tuned!