In The Short Run

 


One of the many things I miss about Missouri is the 5:30 a.m. Tuesday/Thursday running group. I ran with the group for something close to 20 years. Numerous routes, route options on those routes, but most importantly, a great group of people kept it fun. Getting up at 5 a.m. to run in the cold and dark was hard initially, but it wasn’t long before I wouldn’t miss it for anything.


Ann was injured during her training for the Boston Marathon last year, and recovery has been slow. But by the time we moved out here last September, she was doing physical therapy that was up to running a few miles. We kept that up for most of our first month in Tacoma and our month in Elbe, but have slacked off since moving to Salmon Beach. I blame it on the 212 stairs we have to go up to begin our run. From there, it’s still uphill whichever way you go for at least another half mile.

I hope my Tuesday/Thursday 5:30 a.m. Runners understand, but Ann and I have met someone new. It’s not you – it was us. We needed more than the long distance relationship could give.

Enter the Tacoma Runners. They run every Thursday night at 6:30 p.m., starting at a bar or restaurant. After the run, people hang out and eat or drink. We’ve been to three of the last four. When they met at Holy Moly we didn’t stick around after the run, but we did two weeks later when they met at the E9 Brewery Taproom, and this week at Terry’s Office Tavern.

The first run from Holy Moly started in the heart of the little restaurant district on 6th Street and mainly ran through quiet residential neighborhoods and a little college campus. Our next run from the E9 taproom ran down the hill to the water, past a marina filled with an impressive number of really nice boats, through some waterfront parks, past the Museum of Glass, up a bunch of stairs, up a big hill, and then made a left down a quiet street and alongside a rather large homeless encampment. The pizza at E9 was fantastic – highly recommend.


The run this week from Terry’s Office Tavern was a very simple rectangle. We ran up Proctor a couple of blocks to 30th street, then ran downhill for more than a mile, took a right over to 29th Street, then a right on 29th, ran uphill for more than a mile, then back to Terry’s Office Tavern. I had some kind of meatloaf sandwich that I couldn’t finish (a first for me), and Ann had a cheeseburger that she couldn’t finish. The food was good.

On that big uphill on the way back Ann outran me. I might not be able to keep her in my sights much longer. It’s a good thing we found a group.


The group also does a 5K every Saturday morning in Point Defiance Park, which is also our backyard. We’ve been to the 5K twice now. They officially time it. The Thursday night group is much bigger, probably 50 people or so. The Saturday morning 5K is more like a dozen, maybe up to 20. But I’m guessing now that it is going to be light out on Thursday nights, and with the weather soon getting a bit warmer, the running groups will be getting bigger, just like the Columbia group does come spring.

The Tacoma Runners are a bit more official than the COMO runners. Their group is incorporated as a 501 (c) (3). They have a website, they station people at turnaround points, and they have a couple of people sweep the course to make sure no one is left out there. I’m not sure why that is necessary when you are only running a three-mile loop on a public sidewalk, but they do it. Our Columbia group wasn’t short on lawyers, but they seemed less worried about liability, and maybe less worried about people getting hurt in general.

All that being said, I intended to do a long run on Saturday and Sunday, and instead did nothing. At least Ann didn’t do anything either, so she’s not gaining on me too fast.

https://www.tacoma-runners.com/

https://e9brewingco.com/

https://www.terrystacoma.com/


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