Out of virtual into reality

I can't say that I'm just meeting people that I know from blogging since I'd known Bri, Marty and had met Rebecca once before. But I had the chance to meet Alicia yesterday for a short run. Now I can say that I was a bit intimidated by the idea of running with her...well you know, you've seen the race results so you know why and you may be asking yourselves "how on earth did that work?"...well it's this nice little thing called a jogging stroller. Hehe.

Alicia assured me that we would be about a 9:30 to 10 minute pace, and since I was slated for an easy run, this sounded good to me. After Tim so graciously got off work early yesterday, I was able to head over to Durham to meet Alicia at her house for a neighborhood stroll. I don't know if it was the excitement of running with somebody else or if I felt I needed to work harder because it was her, but our first mile was pretty dang fast. We slowed it down after that but ended up at a 8:12 average over just over 31 minutes. Faster than it needed to be but a great run for me.

I'm not much of a conversationalist, especially when running...I need every little bit of oxygen to go directly to work and not be wasted, so I don't think I was as talkative as I would have like to have been, but it was really nice getting to meet somebody for blog land. And after meeting her, Alicia is a very down to earth and warm person. Absolutely no reason for intimidation...unless you plan on racing her and that, I have no ill guided fantasies about.

So, hopefully I'll get to meet others of you, if I knew who you all were, or if I were ever in the state where you all live. But there's an ugly little rumor that a few of you have signed up for the Valentine's Day Marathon Massacre in Greensboro...Tim and I will be there again this year AND I am volunteering at the Tobacco Road Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in March. So sign up people!