Buddy system (guest post)

One of the reasons I started following the Gourmet Runner is that we seemed to be on the same path, even though we are in totally different locations.

We each moved to a new home at about the same time, and we both tackled the challenge of making new friends while working from home. (In my case, I felt incredibly lonely for the first few months of telecommuting. Now teaching fills that gap and I can't imagine that I ever missed being in an office 5 days a week...but it was a rough transition.)

So I asked Vanessa if she would write a guest post about some of her experiences in adjusting to a new home. Even if you live in the same town you were born in, I think you'll enjoy reading this as much as I did!


When people hear that I was born in South Africa, grew up in Hawaii and lived in Germany, England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Hong Kong and now Georgia within my (relatively) short lifespan, they assume I must be a professional at making friends by now.

At least they don't interrupt!

And I am, if you consider statues and other inanimate objects “friends”. People made from stone aside, I do struggle with making new friends when moving to a new location. Living in a small town has made it more of a challenge, as so many residents know one other from as far back as primary school.

Plenty of room for company!

Thankfully, I’m not doomed to a life of solitude. Here are just a few of the ways I have found it easier to meet new people. Keep in mind that running is my hobby - if it’s not yours, mentally cross out running every time you see it and replace it with cycling, knitting, collecting stamps, skydiving - whatever.

1. Find a Running Group: Runners are everywhere. Seriously. Move to a small town with 65 residents and you’ll see at least one crazy old man chasing the cows at dawn for fun. Head to your local running store and inquire about running groups, or tack up a poster and advertise your own.

2. Start a Blog: I know, I know. I’m biased. But it worked for me. Not only have I made a ton of friends who I would consider myself quite close to through the internet, but I’ve had the opportunity to meet many of the in real life. Think of the blog as a friend filter. The only people who will stick around and read on a regular basis are those who have a lot in common with you already.

3. Pretend: No, I don’t mean pretend you have friends. I mean pretend you have confidence. You know those people who get on a bus or elevator and get off with 3 new friends? Pretend you’re like them. Force yourself to say hello to someone or strike up a conversation in line. Worst case scenario? I’ll be honest, it could be embarrassing for, oh - 3 minutes. Best case scenario? New friend.

4. Meetup.com: A friend recently told me about this site and my first reaction was to quickly close the screen so my husband wouldn’t see it. Although it sounds like a dating website, it’s actually a great way to meet people who are interested in different hobbies. In my area, there are a few groups who meet regularly for hiking and trying out new restaurant.

Blogger meetup.

At the end of the day, making friends is easier said than done. I get that. But these suggestions are a great way to get out there and meet new people. Once they meet you they’re bound to want to be your friend, right? Just win them over with that awesome personality of yours and you’re all set.

Have you ever moved to a new place? If so, how did you meet new friends? What advice would you give to someone new in your hometown?

Fun with flour (or 1st time as Hare)

On Sunday Hubby and I were the Hares for our hares-and-hounds run! (For an explanation of hares-and-hounds running, see prior posts.)

Our mission: Take off 15 minutes before the other runners (aka "Hounds"), and mark a route - using flour and chalk - for the Hounds to follow. And don't get caught!

The route must be confusing enough that the Hounds don't catch us while we're marking the trail! (No simple out-and-back course allowed!) But the route must also be marked well enough that no runner or walker gets lost! (In our group there is one route for runners, and a split-off trail for walkers.)

Hares are also expected to set an "interesting" route (read: through playgrounds, over fences, or across fields, whatever...). To give you an example of "interesting" - a recent run took us straight through a downtown bar and out the bar's back door! (The bar knew about this beforehand, but we Hounds did not. It was a clever route, and it was hilarious to see the confused looks on bar patrons' faces.)

Hounds on the hunt!
Source: National Library of Ireland

I have to admit, I was both excited and nervous about the challenge of being a Hare. Some of the runners in the group are much faster than I am. Plus, I had a 15k meltdown during a race the day before. I worried: Would my legs hold up through another effort on Sunday?

In preparation, Hubby and I spent a good chunk of our "date night" on Saturday perched on barstools at a favorite restaurant, reviewing and annotating maps while we waited for a table to open up. We fine-tuned the route on Sunday morning, changed into running gear, and headed out to hash. An experienced Hare came along to show us the ropes, since this was our first time marking the trail.

I ran as fast as my little legs would take me (which is harder than it sounds when you're also supposed to be marking a trail)!

And, indeed, we outran the Hounds!

When we finished, we were exhausted and covered in dough.
(Flour + sweat = sticky mess!)
But it was FUN.

Where is the craziest place you have ever run?

Running with the locals in Barcelona

When traveling, I like to meet up with a local running group if I can.
Aside from the obvious the benefit of getting a nifty tour of a city, running with locals usually offers insight into the area that goes far beyond what I can read in a guidebook.

The Barcelona Casual Road Runners did not disappoint!

At Parc de la Ciutadella after a run
with the Barcelona Casual Roadrunners

Hubby and I joined the Barcelona Casual Road Runners for a fast-paced, ten-kilometer run the 29th.*
I should note that the word "casual" in the title reflects their attitude, not their pace!

On the run, we explored sections of the city that Hubby and I might not have seen any other way (and certainly would not have thought to venture into at night). While the run began and ended at the Parc (a fairly common tourist destination), the 10k route took us a bit off the beaten path. We ran through the Parc, along the beach, around a hotel and shopping center, past the Plaça de Colón (which is particularly beautiful at night), and through streets and paths back to our starting point.

Statue of Christopher Columbus
in the Plaça de Colón, Barcelona (by day)

In the days before we met up with the Casual Road Runners, we passed dozens of fountains (like the one below). Every street, it seems, has numerous statues with spigots. But until running with the group I didn't realize that people use these as drinking fountains. (This knowledge was key later in our trip after a very long, blustery, and dry hike up and around Montjuic with no other source of water in sight.)

Public drinking fountain in Barcelona

In addition to teaching us about the drinking fountains, the other runners filled Hubby and me in on Catalonian New Year's traditions, including L'Home dels Nassos (more on that later) and "lucky grapes."

At the stroke of midnight on New Year's clocks around Catalonia chime 12 times. Locals eat one grape for each toll of the bells. The intent is to eat the grapes one at a time, but also to finish by the time the 12th bell strikes. This sounds simple, but consider the volume of 12 grapes and trying to finish them all in 12 seconds...

If you manage to finish all the grapes by the time the bells stop, you will have good luck in the new year. So, of course, we made sure we had a bag of grapes handy at midnight on New Year's!

And speaking of food... Barcelona takes its pasta seriously.

An homage to pasta:
Giant galet statue on a street in Barcelona.

The traditional Christmas meal in Barcelona is not complete without escudella. The dish is a stew of several types of meat, vegetables, beans, and a special pasta known as a "galet." The pasta is so famous that it is used for decoration in store windows and there are statues of giant galets on the city streets.


If only I had a fork!

Running with the Barcelona Casual Road Runners = most informative way to run a 10k in the city.

*Note: The Barcelona Casual Road Runners meet at 8pm every Tuesday and Thursday evening, at the entrance of the Parc de la Ciutadella. If you're ever in Barcelona, I highly recommend dropping in to join them!

Set up on a (running) blind date!

This blog post comes to you live* from Florida State University. I drove in at the crack of dawn yesterday morning.

The work/academic portion of my visit has been fantastic so far, but what I really want to tell you about is the running. (Of course!) And I really want to share my first "blind date" story with you! (Note to Hubby: just keep reading.)

Before the trip, I exchanged emails with one of the professors here. Unfortunately, I used the wrong signature block on one of my emails. Rather than list my professional contact information, I accidentally used the signature block that says:

San Diego / Pensacola / i-run-like-a-girl.blogspot.com

Oops!

In correspondence with a professional colleague, my signature should have listed my "day job" and my teaching gig, not announced that I run like a girl!

Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. The professor clicked on the link, realized I'm a running fanatic (who? me?), and sent my contact info to one of his students who is ALSO an avid runner. She and I got together for a run this morning before work, and I'm very glad we did!

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about a running blind date. What if she was way faster than me? (She is.) What if we have nothing to talk about? (Um... that would never happen with two running geeks. Why was I worried?) What if she's a running skirt-wearer and looks down upon my collection of mismatched race T-shirts and time-worn shorts? (Also turned out not to be a problem... She was wearing a race shirt, too!)

My pre-run anxieties were just like a blind date! (And I'm a married woman, for Pete's sake! I'm supposed to be past pre-date jitters!)

I can't speak for Runner-Student** but I thoroughly enjoyed our morning run. 7am is much darker here than it is at home. (Hello new time zone!) While I've been known to throw caution to the wind for the sake of running, I've never been in Tallahassee before, so I'm not sure I would have been brave enough to run alone, in the dark, through a strange college campus. (Ok. Let's be honest. I would not have run through campus in the dark. I'd have wussed out and run on a dreadmill at the hotel gym.) Having company was a huge bonus this morning.

Plus, while RS and I were talking, I discovered that the match-making professor also used to be a runner and would organize group runs for conference attendees. I have no idea why the tradition ended, but you can bet we'll be bringing the group run back at the next conference!

RS and I ran around campus, stopped at the track so I could get some sprints in (so thoughtful of RS!), and ran back. I have no idea what route we took or how far we went. I tried to map our route upon return to the hotel, but quickly realized that I have no idea exactly which turns we took. I do know that we ran from the east end of campus to the west end, and that we ran past a cemetery and crossed one busy road... It was dark. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!

The campus is quite a bit hillier than I was expecting for a Florida run, but it felt good to run on rolling hills again! The fact that it was a glorious 38 degrees outside when we started certainly didn't hurt either! (Hello autumn! I'm so happy to see you again!)

So, all in all, this was a great way to start the day!
Now it's time to get back to work...

Have you ever had someone "set you up" for a running date? (Purely platonic, of course.)

This is definitely my first "running blind date" ever, but it was an excellent experience!


*Ok... by the time you read this, I'll have moved on. But you get the idea.
**By now you know I don't use names unless I get the person's permission to do so. ;-)

Heading "home"

Tonight I'm blogging from the Atlanta airport. (Thank goodness for mobile broadband on long layovers!)

I still have one more hop to go to get home to my hubby, cat (Peanut), and my bed. But, despite the long hours of air travel, I am sure I woke up at home this morning. By "get home" I mean returning to the Gulf Coast. But by waking up "at home" I mean San Diego. Seven months after moving to Florida, my brain is still reeling, trying to figure out which one is which.

When I "get home" hubby will greet me with hugs and kisses. Peanut will head-butt me (her sign of affection) then flop over and expect me to rub her tummy. I will be glad to get home, because I miss them both terribly.

But when I woke up "at home" this morning I had the good fortune to run with more than half a dozen of my very good friends, at one of my favorite running places in the world: Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach. The weather was cool -- there was no need for "beat the heat" tricks I use in Florida. (The rumors are true. San Diego weather really is perfect running weather year-round.)

We ran along cliffs towering above the Pacific ocean. We watched dolphins searching for their breakfast. My friend C baked the most amazing peanut butter and jelly cookies for our post-run breakfast. (C, if you're reading this, those are the best cookies I have ever eaten. Period.)

I've covered more than 4,500 miles (in air) over the past four days. I'll probably forget every single one of them. (Heck, I slept through several thousand of them.)

But the six miles I ran this morning will stick in my memory for years to come.

Hash virgin no longer

In my desperation to find a suitable running group to fill the void I left when I left behind my friends at SDR, I tried a hash.

No, not THAT hash.

A hares and hounds run, organized by a local chapter of the Hash House Harriers. The hashers have a reputation for being a raunchy group (not my style, as I've mentioned before), but one local chapter claimed to be a "kinder, gentler hash-type club." The group's description implied that they are a rowdy, but not rauchy, bunch of running-lovers. It sounded like just what I was looking for, so I laced up and took the plunge.

I'll save the details for a later, when my head is no longer swimming with the after-effects of during- and post-run beers, and I can type without having to concentrate so very hard on making my fingers strike the right keys in the right order.

But I will say this: the East Hill Hare & Hounds Running Club gave me a warm and bawdy (but not R-rated) welcome to the group.

Hashing clearly won't replace any of my training runs (not sure "drink beer at mile 2" is on my training calendar) but it does promise to be a lot of fun.


A note about the photo:
To be clear, for those of you who have never done a hash or "hare and hounds" run... The chalk (shown above) is key to the run. Chalk and/or flour are used to mark a trail. Runners (except for the "hare" who marks the course) have no idea where the trail will lead them -- they have to follow the trail chalk/flour markings -- which is an integral part of the fun!

MWF runner seeks partner for long runs on the trails...

I started my new life on the Florida Panhandle about six months ago, but have made little progress in terms of finding new running buddies. Not that I haven't tried. I feel like Goldilocks, but looking for "just right" has been tougher than Miss G made it seem.

I tried the local pub run: Too little socializing, and too many people half-assing it just to get the beer discount.

So I tried the local ladies' run: Too girlie, even for me. And I love everything about being a female runner. I just don't want to run wearing a tiara. I don't care whose birthday it is. I think their enthusiasm is awesome - the same way I think it is awesome when a couple runs a marathon dressed as Fred and Wilma Flintstone... but that doesn't mean I want to dress up, too.

Next I looked up one of the local hash run groups: Too raunchy, even for me. (And I drop the f-bomb ALL THE TIME... but, seriously, replacing the word "come" with "cum" on a website is not that clever.) And they didn't reply to emails anyway. (Yes, I am getting that desperate!)

In a last-ditch effort, I replied to an ad on Craigslist for someone else who is looking for a running buddy. We'll see what happens. This will either be the start of a beautiful new running adventure, or it won't, or the person is a serial killer.

So if I don't post for awhile...

But seriously, if I do meet up with this runner I'll do all the smart things: meet in a public place, make sure hubby knows where I am and what time I'll be home, use a fake name, carry a taser.

So my question tonight is: When did finding a running partner start to feel like online dating? (And where can a girl get a taser?)


Author's update February 2012: There is a second hash run group in town, and they were just right.