Anyone Wanna Run? It's Lonely Out There

Ferndale is an absolutely fantastic city to run in!

It's basically a grid, so if you're planning to run specific distances using something like gmaps-pedometer, it makes it easy to tweak your routes in order to achieve that. I like to include some of Pleasant Ridge in my routes, too.

Despite my love of sports and running as a kid, I was consistently picked near last for schoolyard games. It wasn't because I lacked athleticism. Maybe it was my scrawny physique. Even at 18 years old I was 5 feet 10 inches and 120 pounds. I didn't fill out until after high school and after I stopped playing sports, of course. My chosen team sport was baseball and I was good at it. Not great, but good. I played right field and first base. As an adult, I've gravitated towards more individual endeavors. In my early- to mid-20s I did some competitive road cycling. Cycling is team based and I was a member of a team, but it still maintains a very individual slant. Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times, not his team who helped him to do it. In my late-20s I got sick of the high cost and low reward of amateur cycling and decided to take up running. Now THIS is an individual sport. Just me, myself and I trying to beat my own best times. In grade school I did well running 200-meter dashes and I spent three or four years running cross-country. I did a little research before I started to make sure I wouldn't injure myself. I completed the "Couch to 5k" program and then stopped. I picked the program back up a few times in the last two or three years, but never completed it again until this past spring. This spring I had a goal: the Susan G Komen Race for a Cure. So, I trained for it using Couch to 5k and ran it. Now I've made the decision that I am going to keep being a runner. It's difficult some days to get out and run 5k, but I've been trying to do it three times each week. On the hot days I may only do half the distance (I hate the heat) but I'm making the effort.

Despite enjoying the solace of running alone through Ferndale, I sometimes wish I could leave the iPod at home and run with someone else. So, if there is anyone out there who is interested in running 5k with me please get in touch. I am not fast. I don't time myself but I ran the Race for a Cure in 31:29. I live near Nine Mile and Pinecrest and would be glad to have someone along. New runners are welcome too. I don't mind stopping to walk a few times!