Destination Race: Chester, England

The Chester Marathon in Chester, England was the first destination race that began my journey to make friends on the run -- it was during this trip that I realized I needed a way to communicate my passion project to meet people. As you can see in the first image, we are all pretty focused on the task at hand (racing) and perhaps not so chatty. After all, we do have to run for several hours in order to finish the full 26.2 miles (or 42.2 km if you're running in the UK)!

Chester was recommended by a running friend from another work life. She had polled her UK running friends and told me this race was a fan favorite in England -- it was rumored to be lovely, crossing through English and Welsh countryside, with a good tour of the city on-foot, an old Roman town with original Roman walls and lots of lovely architecture. This was all true - it was a bucolic delight, perhaps more-so if cow pastures are more of a novelty; it made for a smashing run. As a Midwesterner, I was amused that the cows gave away their locations so easily with the familiar fragrant aroma of cow pasture and wondered if everyone else was as accustomed to this smell as I was.

The trip to Chester allowed me to connect with the friend who had recommended the race -- we had never met in person, and it seemed the race weekend was a great opportunity for us to get to know one another better. She and I were in similar situations, having both become recently single, we weren't sure what the romantic horizon would look like for us. We decided to only focus on positive things moving forward, and that included the race. Her training hadn't gone quite as planned, so she and I would run separately, meeting up again afterwards.

The course was a winding rural adventure past old farm houses, churches, small Cheshire towns, tiny stone bridges, and tall hedge paths. Because I wasn't running for time but for the experience, I stopped to take photos and video, and therefore frog-hopped all over the place, nowhere near any pace groups to tell me if I was on-track to stay under the somewhat arbitrary 4 hour time goal I'd set for the day's run. Mostly I just didn't want to stay out on the wet course too long, nor did I want to try and go too fast, having just run a Boston Qualifying race 29 days earlier.

As I was dipping in and out of the other runners, I kept looking at the various tattoos, advertisements, and other messages everyone was wearing, and I thought to myself - this is what I need. I need a way to communicate my journey for other runners to SEE so that we have talking points if there's interest.

My friend finished much faster than she imagined in under 4:30 (she was thinking she would need the entire 6 hours!), and so we met up again for drinks to celebrate! What WOULD love hold for us in the future? I shared with her my plan to meet people on this monthly marathon passion project. She shared advice with me to open my heart to find love in unexpected places. "Kissing a woman can feel so good." she shared, "Maybe you should date women for awhile?" She told me that she must have gone on 100 first dates using the dating apps before meeting her soon-to-be ex-husband. "Don't go on second dates just to be nice. Kiss them at the end, and if you have chemistry and enjoyed yourself, then consider it. But don't let them waste your time." We talked about my adamant refusal to get on any dating apps and celebrated into the night. We made plans to meet up again with a larger group for the Edinburgh Marathon in May. We bid our farewells and left Chester the next day to return back to regular life, having learned something about one another -- and I think about ourselves.

Chester was fun, and it was indeed lovely, but it taught me a few things about trying to meet people at races. Typically there are a few places you expect to make friends at races -- the expo, the race itself in the corrals waiting for the race to begin, during the race if you're a similar pace to someone, the post-race party (if there is one), and the evening after when you see other runners out on the town. Some races have accompanying events and shorter races leading up to the marathon as well, so those are sometimes options. Here's how Chester stacked up for those opportunities:

• Pre-race expo - No expo, only a couple of tables for runners to pick up bibs
• No pre-race 5k or other social event
• Pre-race corrals - England brought her standard weather and so it rained for the 45 minutes we waited in corrals; while my friend and I did talk to other runners, it was primarily about running the Comrades Ultra, which she has done twice and was wearing a hat to represent "He only did the 'down' and didn't finish! He should NOT be wearing the hat!" she commented to me afterwards.
• During the race - I wasn't with one set of runners consistently since I was bouncing all around taking photos, so this could have been better controlled on my part
• Post-race party - I stood around awkwardly trying to seek out other singles to chat up, and most everyone had families and other supporters in-tow
• Evening out - It rained. Again. So, there weren't many people out on the streets, and the few pubs we popped into were pretty quiet. We had a good time with one another, but did not meet loads of new friends out on the town.

Returning from England I happened to be on a plane with runners heading to the Chicago Marathon! Wearing my Chester Marathon shirt, a couple of runners approached me to ask if I was running Chicago, and we talked for quite awhile. Runners love to talk about running, and we are quick to connect on common ground. I shared my details with my new destination running friends, and I decided to create a way to share my journey with people to make that connection easier in the future. The Chester Marathon shirt proved to me that a visual cue could help connection with other runners out in the wild, so this site and the communication about it via stickers on the run should help. So, buckle up! We're going on a journey together. I can't see what happens next!

Next stop, Indianapolis Monumental Marathon!

XOXO,

T