Fitness Buddy

I had been preparing all week for Saturday. Winnie asked if I wanted to run with her. I was nervous but agreed anyhow. We hadn't run together since November, when we left Billy behind and when Billy then left us behind. We thought running as a group would motivate us to run longer and faster, but it didn't. During that run along Alameda's waterfront, I had to stop because Billy made me laugh and it hurt to laugh and run at the same time.

This Saturday, though, was different. It was just me and Winnie, and we didn't talk and we didn't laugh. We just ran.

I printed out maps of the San Francisco Half Marathon routes, and decided that we would go from my house around Stow Lake at 19th Ave. in Golden Gate Park and back. Winnie met me at my place and asked if I was going to bring my iPod Shuffle. I wasn't planning on it since I thought it might be rude to be listening to my music as we were running together (What if she wanted to talk to me?), but since she had hers and since she said she couldn't talk and run at the same time, I brought mine too, which I was more than happy about.

We walked up to the Panhandle and started jogging. We crossed into the park and joined the tons of other runners out on the sunny morning. Winnie and I seemed to be keeping up at the same pace. We passed all the people walking and dodged the baby strollers. I was nervous running with her since she works out regularly and I thought I would have a hard time keeping up. She was nervous of running with me since she doesn't run more than 30 minutes at a time (the gym kicks folks off the treadmill after half an hour) and didn't think she could last. I kept looking over at her and she seemed to be moving along easily; I wondered when she would slow down or when she would want to stop.

We kept going until I saw a sign for 30th Ave. Whoa. That was eleven blocks more than we should have gone. Where was Stow Lake? How did we miss it? We turned around at 30th and headed back up towards my house. We walked for a little bit through the uneven dirt path covered with wood chips, staying to the left because a race was coming right at us (though we only passed a handful of runners). She told me that she kept thinking, "When is Susan going to stop?" I told her that I thought she was doing fine, to which she responded that I couldn't hear her breathing. So, we both were struggling a little but kept going because of the other one. Good peer pressure, I suppose.

It was getting really warm, so I took off my long-sleeved shirt and blew my nose on it. I tucked my bandanna that was covered with snot and sweat back into my bra. Winnie must have thought I was disgusting, but it was only snot and I was sweaty and gross already; I couldn't get any more gross.

We started jogging again, this time with me setting the pace and with Winnie saying that we couldn't stop. We came upon a hill and struggled to the top, where we stopped and laughed at how ridiculous we were. After that, we ran all the way back (though more slowly than before) to the Panhandle, totally proud of our first Winnie-Susan only run. We gave each other a high-five as the cars passed us on Stanyan.

On our walk back to my house, we talked about our our eating habits. Winnie said that she's also eating less meat and that every time she eats a salad, she refers to it as a Susan Lunch. It's so nice to have a fitness buddy who isn't crazy intense about being fit but who is still supportive and encouraging.

I also Google Mapped our route when I got home. The total distance from my house to 30th Ave. and back is about 8 miles. We ran about 6 of those. I'm hoping we can make this a regular habit.