runners are weird. i AM a runner. so, by definition...

Remember in March when I wrote that post about how runners are weird?  How, if you take runners out of their running shoes & technical shorts that they act like total social morons?  Unable to make eye contact?  Unable to practice any kind of social grace?

Well.

It happened.  

I became one of “them”.  

I went to volunteer at an RRRC event, and got along with everyone.  Weirdness and all.  I even caught myself in a TOTAL moment of social awkwardness, sort of stuck in limbo where I couldn't decide... and.... the thing... and most definitely... acting weird.

I totally made friends (again) with Isn’tcool, who might (actually) be cool, but in a really geeky kind of way.  I have a theory on why he's so awkward, but, it's just a theory, so... 

Isn'tcool and I talked running, racing strategies, horses, goofiness (no, not really but there’s definitely a goofy aspect to Isn’tcool), parenting styles...  We invited others to join our circle and teased the newcomers a little but in a nicer way than I was 'teased' when I was a new comer...  and somewhere in all this I became sort of known as the Finish Line NAZI… sort of… 

yeah, I think that’s one of those all or nothing kind of titles.

Um.  SO... moving on.

I had a GREAT time.  Weirdness and all.  There was so much laughter at one point I got a little teary, and yes, my face started to hurt… and it occurred to me, I was completely fitting in with the group.

~gasp~  Have I become a RRRC “geek”? 

I’m no RRRC martyr though, no worries on that.  Never have I thought in my last 4 outings, spread out over 4 months, “I’m the only one who does anything for this club”, because I can clearly see that there really are about 8-10 people who run the club of 2600 or so, with the “occasional help” from people like me. 

Regardless of my lack of Martyrdom, there were some “signs” that I’ve gone the way of the GEEK.

British guy and I reunited in a loud and obnoxious way – sign #1.

And then British guy & I “broke up” in a very public way when I was delegated to a new job at the start line – sign #2.

I claimed my “lucky pen” and then made a huge production of hunting it down – sign #3.

British guy & I got back together in a (not really) emotional… geeky…. reunion when it was determined that I do best with my clipboard in hand...  Nazi – sign #4.

I’m completely 100% certain that the number sheets I turned in were 100% accurate.  WITHOUT. A. DOUBT.  ... um... Nazi – sign #5.

At the end of the day I was taught a few more Mad Finish Line SkillZ, so that incase someone ever needs me to start the race or set the clock, I will know how.  

Oh dear.  

They’re giving me a real job?  Twice in one day?  - sign #6?

I’m too pretty for this.... to be a geek.... right?

~gasp~ Did I really just SAY THAT?  Out. Loud?

I’m too ... Right?  There are standards for GEEK and I’m 100% certain that my (assets) are too (something) for me to fall into the GEEK category... pretty sure...

Actually, the other women who show up to volunteer are generally quite lovely, so this isn’t fair to them, but the men are ALL a bunch of runner geeks ~ true story~.  Well, except ONE ~ but I won’t go into THAT here, he’d be EMBARRASSED, and then he’d ACCUSE ME of making him into the next Justin Bieber ROCKSTAR or something, and AS IT IS, with my SUPER COOL article in print I’m already expecting to get BLAMED for an increase in membership in the Richmond Road Runners Club… well OK, maybe NOT.

Well, PROBABLY not.  

Just like I’m not too pretty to be a "runner geek".  

I think anyone who has as much fun as I had on Saturday at a 5K finish-line runs a real risk of being labeled a runner geek.

But GEEK or NOT ~ I have to wonder if one of the reasons Isn'tcool let me "in" is because I didn’t choose to wear PINK … because my favorite pink tank top wasn’t clean and it was kind of warm for sleeves with long pants and my legs were too unshaven pale to wear shorts.  

NO WORRIES THOUGH, I was wearing an inappropriately tight black tank top that had the words “runner first, logical thinker second” in white letters strategically stretched across the front.

Hmm.  Maybe my strategy for fitting in with Isn’tcool & Co. is hitting below the belt?