We're in the club now

First of all, hi! I'm not dead!

I'm assuming you got the reference to the Up soundtrack in the post title- good for you!

I made a somewhat impulsive decision today. I finally joined a running club. For a while, the Winner's Circle looked like the frontrunner (no pun intended). They're all over the place on the local scene, and Dad seemed to support the idea of me joining. Grandma even offered to pay my lifetime membership fee when she watched me at Evelyn's Run for the Roses (aka where I set my most recent 5k PR). But last weekend, I got another idea. Matt, the guy at Whirlaway who sold me my Green Silences (aka my babies), was doing some strides before the Plaistow Old Home Day 5k and I saw he was wearing a Sisu Project singlet. I'd seen those singlets around since my first Baldi River Run in 2007 but never really knew anything about the team except that it was composed of super fast people. So the other night, I shot them an e-mail asking to know more about the team, including if I was too slow or young to join it. Matt wrote back and basically said as long as I could be a supportive and positive member of the team, living by the team's principles of "stability" and "positivity," then I could be involved. I asked about a hundred more questions including if it was okay to do races on my own (because everyone knows I like to do one every once in a great while) and if I needed to attend every group run, because that would be hard, given the variability of my work hours. The overall response I got back was that everything was fine.

So anyway, I'm now an official member of the Sisu Project. An official USATF member, at that (I'm also a bit impulsive with my trusty Visa card). What I like about the team is that it's about a lot more than just running. I guess the word I'm looking for is "holistic." God knows I need a bit more positivity and stability in my life. I think Sisu can help make me not just a better runner, but also a better person. I'm looking forward to being a part of the team and seeing what I can learn from my teammates.