When I first started running, I was a bit of a sponge. I was DYING for any and all information. Books, magazines, and, the grand-daddy of all research tools, THE INTERNET!

Random picture of my computer. And a cupcake. I don’t know why.

But the internet quickly got overwhelming. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Just go google search “runner knee pain” and see how many hundreds of thousands of things come up.

How’s a girl to know who to trust?

Well, OF COURSE, the best answer is to TRUST PEOPLE YOU MET ONLINE!
(this is only true of running, please do not apply to dating or really anything else)

See all these awesome people? Met every single one of them online. I know, right?

The running community on twitter and FB is crazy fun, informed, and generous. You will find runners just like you and other runners not like you at all (faster, slower, younger older) but whom you share this one common link that makes them instant friends.

But how do I get started, you ask?? And once I’m there, will they like me? I don’t like being the new person! (I’m projecting these feelings on you, sorry;).

Here’s my top 3 ideas on how to find your perfect running tribe:

Twitter! Go find a twitter chat! Notice I didn’t say participate in one because if you’ve never done it before that can be a bit unnerving, but at least go to twitter and hang out and read the conversations. The way a chat works is the host posts questions, the participants answer, we chat with each other, and we like each other. That’s pretty much it, honestly. I’ve chatted with amazing pros (yes, Bart Yasso and I have had a few back and forths, thank you very much) and also met beginners that actually learned something from me! (big confidence booster there!). The ones I love? #Bibchat on Tuesday nights and #runchat on Sunday nights (times vary so check them out). In fact, a lot of us use those hashtags all week to ask running related questions, brag about our awesome run, or whine about how much we don’t want to run (I do that quite a bit;). You can go do that right now (provided you’re on twitter which is easy and free.)

Facebook! FB has lots of fun running groups. You can, of course, start with MY PAGE (INSERT SHAMELESS PLUG HERE) but there are also other great groups designed just for runners! I love my friends at Team Run Disney and also just joined a great group with DizRuns Denny (for both of those you have to ask to join but you’re only qualification is that you’re a runner). Oh, and the Another Mother Runner tribe is awesome. Um, and Patty from My No Guilt Life, and . . .oh, I clearly need a separate post just for that! In fact, most medium to big bloggers have a FB fan page and some of them are really engaged there! Check it out!

Pinterest! This one is less interactive but is a great resource for articles and may help you find some great bloggers and writers. If I’m really going to search a topic, I find heading to Pinterest is much more likely to generate answers I actually want from people I can actually trust (not always, as in anything). And if you really want to, you can go find my Pinterest page here.

I realize for some people meeting people online is weird. But I met my Best Running Friend, Sara, as well as most of my running friends that way. They are a great, loving and accepting group of people! I hope you’ll jump into the great social media waters and find some new friends! You’ll learn a lot and it will be fun.

See you on all the things!

Jen