Group Run Night

As I mentioned in my last post, Monday night I hopped a train up to White Plains, about a half hour (on the express train) from Grand Central to spread the Oiselle love! First, I met up with Meggie, another Oiselle ambassador who lives in the city but we’d never met until Monday.

Andy, one of the owners of Westchester Road Runner, picked us up at the train station. Turns out he used to work in Manhattan near where I live, before moving to White Plains and opening the store over 30 years ago. He’s also run 10 NYC Marathons.

We arrived at the store to find it packed with everything a runner needs. We met a few of the other people who work at the store and have built a community there. Soon, the women started arriving for the Monday night run group. Andy had explained that they started the group about three years ago thinking it would be a short lived experience. They planned it as an 8 week session to help women who were looking to start running but just needed a little help and encouragement. Three years later the group is going strong. They often bring in local experts like nutritionists and sports doctors to speak to the group and answer questions.

After talking with them for a bit about Oiselle, what we find so awesome about the company and our favorite pieces (my new fave is the Lesley Knicker – I would wear it every day if I could), we raffled off two pieces and then the group started getting ready to head out for the run. It was a really relaxed group and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

I decided to go with the group running the shorter distance – my hamstrings are tight after the race on Saturday it seems – and quickly started a conversation with a couple women. They were so welcoming! I chatted with L for just about the entire run, and a few others off and on. We talked about an incredible array of topics. This is a new experience for me; I run alone. The entire group was so supportive of each other. There was no pressure to run faster than you could, just getting out there was the most important thing.

After making our way around the city, when we got back to the store we hung out for a bit as the women gathered to chat as the groups returned. Several of the women had questions about Oiselle and the different styles and details. It was fun to talk with them about the the brand as even though the store carries the line, none of them knew about it! Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I think they genuinely were excited to learn about a smaller running apparel company that they could support, interact with and be a part of their community. I think it also helped that they saw I’m not a fast runner, but that doesn’t matter to Oiselle – they welcome all women runners, no matter how fast (or slow) they may run!

L and her friend, who is training for the NYC Marathon, offered to give me a lift to the train station and I was on my way home. What a great way to start the week. I usually run alone, but if I lived in White Plains I’d definitely join this group each week! Thank you to Westchester Road Runners and the women’s running group for hosting us!

• Are you part of a running group or do you prefer to run alone?

I tend to run alone.

• As someone who doesn’t typically run after work, I’m wondering, if you do run or hit the gym after work, what kind of snack do you have?

I had a bit of a cliff bar, but I don’t think it sat well in my stomach.

• If you live on the East Coast, did you get stuck in the nasty rain storm last night?

My commute took about 20 minutes longer because I had to take cover from the rain!

************

Today’s workout -

Stretching & ab exercises