Training partners & Teammates

I've been thinking a lot about my training partners and teammates the last couple of weeks.  I don't mind training alone, but the last few weeks have been unusual with both Dan V (stress fracture) and Petey (shin) out at the same time.  I have no problem motivating myself to get out there and train but I definitely miss the camaraderie.  I've rarely had a stretch where I'm not training consistently with someone.  Petey and I have been logging miles together since "back in the day" at the University of Lowell.  That is back when there was no "Umass" attached to Lowell and we had never heard of the mythical River Hawk (we were the "Chiefs").  Dan and I have been running and racing together since the early 90's (1990's not 1890's).  I definitely miss the opportunity to chat about what is going on and plot out strategies for future racing.  Hopefully they'll both heal up quickly and we'll be back out there on the Freeman Rail Trail and the AVIS trails.

I enjoy catching up with my teammates at races.  It is rare that we get together (we live all over New England and everyone is on their own schedules), so I've been missing my CMS teammates lately.  It seems like the ranks of the masters team has really thinned over the last couple of years and recently injuries and illness have left us with barely 5 guys at the Grand Prix races.   That is a sad state of affairs for a club that has long been a constant scorer in the GP.  I enjoy being part of a club that likes to compete and have zero interest in the social aspects of a running club...if it doesn't involve racing I'm not interested.  It really isn't that much of surprise as the racing team ages and people fall out, I guess it just seems like we may be approaching the breaking point where the racing team may no longer field a team.  That will be a sad day indeed.