Excited to run with East Side Runners this morning as I really wanted to get some strong training underway. But constantly meeting at new locations is always scary as I have no idea what terrain I will need to take on.

Like usual, I showed up at a random parking lot in a random suburban city on the East side. It must be strange for the outside world to watch runners come together & do what only few can do well.

We ended up running at the Kirkland watershed, a small wooded area in South Kirkland. The run consisted of doing a 1.2 mile loop near the watershed & heading out on the road for an out & back before taking on the watershed loop again.

I was excited to see my running crush there this morning. And fortunate enough that he decided to jog with me for a few miles before leaving me for faster runners. It was nice to chat it up with a super talented, cute guy as it is pretty slim pickings in the ESR club. After he dropped me, I ended up running alone for a bit & wondering why the group divided so quickly. Thankfully, I found another runner who seemed tolerant enough to let me run next to him. We ran together & joined another runner that I had met a few weeks back to form our own little pack.

It was nice to run together with some fast guys as the hills on this course proved to be quite challenging. From the trails to the road, there seemed to be a challenge around every corner. And for some reason, maybe because of all the male ego, we never slowed & I found us running at a very quick clip for almost the entire run.

Even though it wasn't as long as I wanted to go, I definitely put in the effort each & every moment my feet were pounding the ground.

Distance: 8.5 miles
State of Mind: Tired, in the good way.