The Joys of Being Slow

I really, really wish I was a faster biker and runner. Seriously. I am sure everyone is like "duh, we all do" but I don't want to get faster for the reason most people might think - I don't want to get faster to beat other people. I want to get faster to be able to be with other people (assuming they don't get faster too...that would defeat the whole thing!). Notice I did not include swimming...why? It is usually in a pool or smaller body of water, so people of all different paces can still hang out together. My two previous life-consuming hobbies were ballet and then waterskiing. I never had to sit out of anything related to either of those because I was not good enough.

I have been invited to both a group ride and a group run this weekend. My response to both? "No." Why? Because I am too slow to keep up with the group. There are so many times I have had to say no, or make alternate plans, or make a shorter route, or start way earlier, because I cannot keep up with the majority of people. Maybe I just surround myself with people that are fast and it would not be as big of an issue if I only knew people who were my speed or slower. Hmm...not sure how to fix that one.

It would also be nice to get a bit faster so my long training stuff did not take so damn long. For me, a 100 mile bike ride will usually take 6 hours (give or take a few minutes) and that is just riding time, so add fuel stops, pit stops, etc, and it is basically an all day affair. If I rode faster I would not be out there as long - and let's just face it...six hours on the bike does not really have any better appeal to me than, say, 4 or 5 hours...nothing great is going to happen in that last hour or two except it will get hotter and I will be one of the last few people out still riding.

Same for the run. My long run pace was usually around 11 minutes/mile for CDA. For me to get in a 21 mile run, that takes three hours and 51 minutes. If I ran 8:30 miles, I'd be done in less than three hours.

Sorry I'm just being negative today, but it gets old. I am not looking for sympathy or anything of the nature because yes I have gotten faster over the past few years, but it is all relative and I just feel like complaining today! It is not like I'm going to get faster and everyone else will stay exactly the same. Those who are faster will probably never understand either - they have never had to decline an invitation to ride or run because they are too slow...or they probably just think I am not trying hard enough.