Running On

I realise that this blog has been silent for far too long. To be honest, my triathlon/long distance  running endeavors have pretty much been absent from my life basically since my last post here. I was feeling defeated and decided that perhaps competitive sport didn't have a place in my life any longer. I started thinking about how maybe that chapter in my life was closed and that I would just go to the gym three times a week just to stay healthy. I even stopped going to the gym consistently; although it shames me to admit it. :) Then, in the course of a few days, things changed very quickly.
One of the members of the Won with 1 team emailed me to see how things were going. She had heard through the grapevine that triathlon wasn't something I was actively pursuing anymore. Her email was very sweet and considerate and it got me thinking again. It didn't ignite that crazy, passionate fire in my belly, but it gave me a little push to do some more enquiring. Somewhere along the way, I found myself emailing two running clubs and I had a response from one of them within a couple of hours of sending in my enquiry. I was surprised when I went into my in-box and saw the reply email and was even more surprised when I read what it said.
Basically, the woman I contacted said that they had had a low vision runner once, but that he had his own guide. My hopes sunk when I read that line as I had explained to her that I not only needed a running club, but that I was attempting to gather a pool of guides. She went on to say, though, that it would be a new challenge for them. Her email seemed promising and it turned out to be when I received another email this morning explaining that the question of guiding had been put to a group of runners last night and there were interested people. There is even a woman who assists a blind woman to go grocery shopping and such and she was definitely interested.
I was speechless.
For months, I sent out email after email; had meeting after meeting; attempted to make connections with various sport/disability minded organisations and all it took was one email to a random running club I found on Google. I had picked them because I had liked their website and the message of inclusion  they had conveyed. They welcomed beginners to the very serious marathoners and train very close to where I live. That means, getting to practices will be quite feasible.
I've been invited to come and run starting on Monday, and although I am very excited by their openness and enthusiasm, I may need to take some time at the gym to re-establish some semblance of fitness first. I am really impressed at how quickly the club has moved on this and I really hope that I may have found a new running home.
If so, that means this blog will not sit silent any longer. :)