In the 12 years since I finished college, I have lived in 4 cities (one of them 3 times at different points), 2 states, and 8 homes. Every time I moved, I had to start over making friends. And, I know you can commiserate… making friends as an adult is not easy. Some cities were easier to integrate myself into than others, and I even made a few friends who felt like lifelong connections. Regardless, it always felt like the first six months to a year in a new place was just adjusting to the water and maybe finding someone to grab coffee with sometimes. Finally, joining a running group changed my life.
We have been in our current home for over 3 years. Yes, your math is right; that means the rest of the last 12 years, I basically lived somewhere different every year. This last move, I made it my personal mission to make more girlfriends before the end of that first awkward adjustment year. It was literally my new year’s resolution. So, about four months into the year, I attended a group running event at a local park (totally out of character for me to go to a gathering where I know no one) where I met a woman who told me about a women-only running group. She helped me find it on Facebook while we stood in the parking lot, and I joined that evening.
I attend my first She Runs This Town (SRTT) event a few weeks later. It was a run and coffee date – where you meet up at a designated coffee shop after the group run for social hour. I emotionally committed to the run before I went, promising myself that if it was bad, I just wouldn’t stay for coffee. On my very first run with these strangers, someone recognized me from my posts in the group Facebook page, and another woman trusted me with basically her whole life story on our five-mile run. It went so well that I stuck around for the coffee. That went so well that I met up with someone else for another run just a few days later.
I soon found myself meeting up with one or more of the ladies from the group weekly, sharing life stories and running history. I even discovered one of the ladies lived just a little over a block from me. Within six months, these group runs – and in between smaller meet ups – became the center of my social life. I was exploring new running routes, going to new parts of town, and meeting new people like I was some kind of social butterfly. We even spent our New Year’s Eve with some girls from the group and their significant others.
COVID-19 hit about nine months after I joined SRTT, and a few weeks after, I found out I was expecting my first child. That girl I mentioned who lived a few blocks from me became my COVID bubble running partner. Her husband made regular porch deliveries to my house on his Friday donut trips because what pregnant lady doesn’t love donuts? Through this one person, I met many of the other women in the group whom I run with and talk to all the time. My running (ha!) joke is that every introvert needs a safety extrovert to help them get out there. Well, she was/is mine.
Now, I am part of a group chat with this extrovert and several other girls from the group. We do run together, but we also share good news, sorrows, and everything in between. When we can make our social calendars line up, we have girls’ nights or meet up for a quick drink.
What started by joining a random Facebook group while standing in a parking lot has turned into one of the best things that ever happened to me. These women really are my village, and I’ve never felt more like I was part of something… all because this extrovert took a chance and put herself out there for once. Joining a running group really did change my life.
