My cool shirt and confessions

Confession: Last night at ski club we were having a tai chi instructor come to teach us a few things, explain how tai chi could help our skiing. So I had to dress comfortably. What to wear, what to wear...Oh, is that my brand new bright red with yellow print shirt I got at my recent tri? Why, yes it is. Though I'm wearing bright orange lounge pants I put the shirt on, look in the mirror. Interesting combo, nice use of color. Yes, I'll wear it.

After the meeting my buddy who invited me to ski club is introducing me around. 'She's a marathoner," he says. "and you can see from the shirt she also does triathlons.' Aw shucks. I dart my eyes modestly to the ground, shuffle my foot, blush. (totally embarassing but cool anyway. shameless!).

He introduces me to one girl who is member of local running club, a leader in it really. My buddy says maybe I can run with one of the groups. Girl is not outwardly welcoming, nor particularly pleasant. Does one of those things where she looks you up and down and her nose wrinkes in surprise (I am forced to write again that yes, runners come in all shapes and sizes). Asks how long i've been doing tris, says the idea of a tri seems hard. I excitedly tell her that anyone can do a tri! In fact, I don't even own a bike, I tell her. Whoa there, cowboy, did I just see a look of disapproval?

We discuss women's running groups, men's running groups. They meet every week, difft workouts, diff times.
"How come those aren't listed on the local runners web site?" I ask.
"They're informal," Im told.
"Oh,"i say "But wouldn't it make sense to put them on the web site so people looking for runners can show up?"
"They can post a message on the message board looking for runners," she says.

To me, there seems to be one word for that: exclusion, which of course is the opposite of inclusion, which is what it would be if the runing spots were listed on the local runners web site, where they would seem to make the most sense.

I'm given her business card and told I can email her for the top secret meeting times and spots. Gosh golly can I, can I? I'm honored! OK, i'll stop being mean. But I'm thinking I may not email.

Finally, I must make one more confession: last traning cycle was a hodgepog of exchanged runs and workouts. This meant rather than try to start up my new cycle on the heels of a 12 miler (a 12 miles that should have been done two days earlier), I bumped back the start date of my next cycle by a day. I keep thinking I'll have a Flatman-like cycle, but so far, hasn't happened. I'll keep trying.