Shout-outs to Annah and Marco

This post is either going to come across as corny or patronizing. If it has to be one of those, I fervently hope it's the former, not the latter.

It seems like many nonrunners see runners as smug, self-righteous people, and to be fair, I was guilty of thinking that a long time ago.

But what I discovered, once I joined the club, is that they're actually a supportive and encouraging group — people in my hometown like Doug, co-worker Mike, Coach Mike, the crew at Runner's Image were always asking about my progress and cheering goals they'd likely passed eons ago.

Once I started encountering beginner/returning runners myself, I realized why they did that: It's honestly exciting to see people taking the plunge. And right now, I get to cheer on two friends who are returning after long layoffs.

Marco made some running goals public at the end of last year: 400 miles, seven 5Ks and a 10K.

There have been a lot of Daily Mile posts, meaning that he's not only making progress on the 400 miles, but that he's also picking up some speed. Recently he notched a sub-10:00 mile.

Apparently it was not a pleasant one, but man, sub-10:00 is a huge milestone for those of us not born Kenyan. F--- YEAH, MARCO!

His first 5K of the year is this weekend, and he's aiming for sub-40:00. I have complete faith that sub-40:00 can happen, and I only say "can" instead of "will" because I've had plenty of unpleasant race-day surprises that were beyond my control.

Annah's time away from running has been much longer than Marco's, though she has done a half marathon.

I didn't know she'd picked running back up until I started receiving texts about her accomplishments: 10 consecutive minutes of running (nearly doubling her previous PR); 2.6 miles of run/walking in 32 minutes; a nonstop mile at 5 mph (after a weekend of, direct quote, eating like Augustus Gloop).

It's not easy to start from basically scratch and to stick with it, like she's doing. Quite a bit of sweat/muscle burn/panting goes into hitting those milestones.

But she's knocking them down like a pro, and I have full confidence that she can (and will!) join us for the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick 5K. If she doesn't find an earlier race.

Welcome to the Scoop Chasers, guys!