Novelty and Challenge brings happiness

http://happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2009/03/how-to-make-friends-and-have-fun/

http://happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2009/11/the-happiness-of-doing-something-new-the-audiobook-version/

This summer I read a book called The Happiness Project not because I am unhappy, on the contrary I generally feel very happy. I just happened to see it at Target, and since I have trouble spending money on books when it isn't necessary, I then checked it out of the library.

The basic story is that the author felt that she could be happier, and then set out to research happiness, and from there design a way to incorporate many of the things she learned into her life in a way that each month added more resolutions while keeping all of the previous month's resolutions.

The majority of the book I enjoyed as a story, and as interesting to note, but not something to directly apply to me. However, this is with one big exception. She talked about how research shows that friends and a social network of people to talk to is important, and a good way to build that is to join clubs with people with similar interests. She also talked about how though it is really tough at the beginning to do something new, the research is clear that after you have done it, it brings happiness to conquer those feelings of insecurity.

Combine that with the fact that I have been reading books about running, and many of them talk about they recommend joining a running club for various reasons. I was nervous, but of course the book covered that too, and my fear of the unknown wasn't a good reason to avoid this adventure.

So, at this point I have the happiness book recommending it, the running book recommending it and then there was one final motivating factor- my unavoidable marathon training.

I am doing longer and longer runs every other weekend, and though Blake is very sweet to ride along me while I run, I know it isn't his ideal way to spend a weekend, especially not when I need to get up early in the morning to beat the summer heat. Meanwhile, already existing in Orange County is a club that meets Saturday mornings to run early enough to beat the heat.

After some quick internet searching, I found South Coast Roadrunners. They regularly run fairly local to me on Monday and Thursday nights, and then a longer run that changes locations weekly on Saturday mornings. Every Saturday run is followed by a meal together, and once a month the Thursday run includes a pizza dinner afterwards. I know Thursdays won't work for me once my Bible study starts again, but for now it's fine. I may switch to Mondays then, since I don't really want to take two nights and a morning away from my time with Blake. At least until my marathon, Saturday morning runs are a part of my schedule either way, so this was pretty ideal. For motivating their members, there is a club race every month that members can submit their times and they turn into points with prizes, and there is also the fun of that many members doing a race together. I am already signed up for so many races, I am not sure I will be able to join many this year, but maybe I will do a few, but not worry about points. If I decide to stick with it after my marathon, I might aim more for their races (half marathons and less distances primarily is my thought at this moment) and see how I would really fare as far as points go.

I learned that once a month they have their new members night (the pizza night) and I felt like I was out of excuses, I HAD to try it. I will fully admit that I was very apprehensive about my first run with them, and I had really no idea what to expect. So last Thursday I went to the meeting place, and the first person I happened to start chatting with was also new, but at least had been in a running club before. I asked her about how we figure out who to run with, and she said that her club would sort people before heading out on the runs.

This conversation proved to be somewhat detrimental as a few minutes later, after a brief introduction by the club president, she says,  "Let's get going," and then everyone starts running! I was completely unprepared for that start, so I was fiddling with my Garmin, and starting off really fast. Once I got that recording, I looked around me... and there are only guys ahead of me. This immediately told me that I was going too fast. I KNOW I am not faster than all the girls in this group, and if I am currently in that spot, there is no way I could keep it up for any distance. I slowed down to the speed of the fastest girls in the pack, and asked them about what their pace was, and learned that, yep, they were too fast for me. I then asked who in the group was running closer to my pace, and they referred me to someone else in the pack.

I continued to slow down till I got near that person, only to not be able to catch their attention. I did catch the attention of another girl in that area, and found that her pace was pretty similar to mine. Yay! So I stuck with them, and we kept following the pack for a while. At some point she, and the other girl with us, asked about how far everyone was running that day. After some discussion, we decided on six miles. My favorite thing about this six mile run was that we talked the whole time, and the time passed quickly, while I also maintained a great pace for me. It was really fun!


Thursday's success (which continued at the pizza party) was enough motivation for me to try the Saturday run, especially since I knew that there was not going to be any sorting unless I did it myself. According to my training program, today was a 10.5 mile run, and I knew my pace was around 10 minute miles, and so as we gathered at the meeting spot, I started asking around how far other people were planning on running, and what speed. I found a group that was a little slower than my pace and were only planning on doing 10 miles, but that was close enough for me. I had another great day running with the group, and talking about all kinds of things with them.

Even though I have gotten used to music on my runs, I found from these last two runs that a good conversation works as well or better than music to distract you from the portions of running which are difficult. Every person I have talked to has reassured me that you can almost always find someone else who is planning on running similar to you and your goals, slow or fast, short or long.

I hope and expect that these two runs are what I can expect in the future. Some nights I will likely find groups that are planning on running farther and/or faster than I would run on my own, and it will push me to be better. Other runs, I will compromise for the sake of having a group, and I will run with people slower than me and shorter than my plan. The nice part of this was that I felt good at the end, and I had moments where I could tell that I was talking easier than my running partners. This was especially significant for me because last August, I was dead tired and winded after a single mile jog, and today I had more energy and breath to talk than someone who has already finished multiple marathons after running 8 miles! It was a great feeling.

Also on the point of a great feeling, I watched the 10k Olympic race today, and putting aside the thought that I took twice as long to finish than those winners, it made me happy to think that I ran that distance this year!

Running may make me tired, and sore, but there is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing a good run, whether it is good based on pace or distance. Less than a mile to my half marathon!