The "Friends Who Run Together" Christmas Breakfast

We first started as members of a run club, but 2019 brought us closer together.

This morning I was asked if we had started our own run club. The answer is absolutely not! We are still part of the big group. The only difference is we are not just runners anymore, but friends who run together.

This will be my first time spending the holidays in Miami since I joined a run club. After we had a delightful Friendsgiving party, we thought it would be a nice idea to take advantage of one of our Saturday morning long runs to do a Christmas breakfast. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to make it. They were very missed!

It all started a couple of years ago when a WhatsApp group chat was created based on a meeting location for our runs. Later on, it became our long run’s HQ. As some started to train for the Miami Marathon and Half Marathon, the extra miles became more difficult so we decided to take turns, moving to Coconut Groove for some weekends. The running route and scenery are so beautiful. It helps to make the miles go by faster. (That does not include going up the Key Biscayne Bridge!)

The change of plan came after we realized many of us would rather do the long miles at our headquarters regardless of being tedious, because driving to Brickell where the run club usually meets was too much for us, since we would have to wake up much earlier and we always ended up leaving too late, taking up most of our Saturdays. After discussing it, we thought that it would be best if we met at Coconut Groove, closer and more convenient for us, then follow up with breakfast. This way, we’d have more time to sleep and save time after the run. So far, it has worked out pretty well!

Today, during our special Christmas/End of the Year breakfast, besides all the laughs and fun we had, we talked about the things we enjoyed about 2019 and what we expect for the upcoming year. You can check the full list of what everyone had to say by name, clicking here. (Just kidding!)

Also, we all got beautiful flowers from our dear runner friend. That was so sweet of you, Prandes! Simple gestures like that make us feel very loved and appreciated. Thank you so much for making our day even more special.

I am very well aware of the fact that these very special friends of mine would like me to sit here and write about how Aligri was hitting on the server telling him how beautiful his eyes were. Or how Disil couldn't handle me talking for another second, and in an act of desperation, threw ice cold water on Maril A. to get a chance to talk. Maybe even to tell about the fact that Prandes had a plan to steal some soup cans. I know! Some people are just weird. I'm just not sure if they would be pleased to read about J.T.'s amazing parking skills or how Ecos was late for breakfast, forcing us to wait a long time to order (that after a very disastrous early morning when we literary had to wait in the rain and hurricane speed winds for an idiot to arrive so we could start to run. Which is a completely different person from the dumb individual who deletes people from chats, a.k.a. "The Chat Nazi," sorry for the poor choice of words but we have a very angry runner among us. I apologize for her language); or about the incredible accomplishment of Cravila for listing all of her goals for 2020 without mentioning the word "triathlon" a single time. In fact, the only thing I know for sure is that Patrin is the only person in this group gifted with some common sense, since she advises the rest of the group and knows how important it is to the vitality and survival of this group to not make me mad.

Regardless of what all of these chismosos want me to write about, classy person that I am—needless to say—I prefer to take the opportunity to share a little bit of what I like most about every single one of them:

Cravila: Since she was one of the last ones to join this select group of people, I haven't had the opportunity to get to know her very well yet, but I can sense she has a kind heart. Even when she dresses up and looks like a fatal, sexy woman, she still has that very warm side of her as visible as her beautiful curves. From what I know about her so far, she is a beautiful person, inside and out. Also, she never has cursed at me for deleting her from the chat in the past, which is a plus! She has definitely made my nice list.

Disil: Also known as "photo, photo, photo!", "Let's carpool!" and, "Who wants to go for breakfast?" is like a family member. Sometimes, the annoying little brother, other times the cuckoo who vanishes for an entire day without letting anyone know his whereabouts. Because of that, he almost made my naughty list, but since he is an extremely nice guy and I deeply appreciate his friendship simply because he is indeed a good person, it is thanks to him this group became so close this year. He is the one who brought us together by pushing us all to have breakfast after every single Saturday run. Thank you so much for that, my friend!

Ecos: Also one of the latest members of this crew, is the type of guy who is not afraid to pour his heart out, even if that means he needs to get out of his comfort zone and express his thoughts in English. I see a lot of myself in him. Actually, I started to become closer to him after he adopted Aligri and me during Miami Half Marathon this year. He never trained with us, but ran most of it by our sides. When I was having a tough time at mile twelve, he came back for me. That was a very touching moment. Besides, that action was enough to show what kind of a great soul he is. I have no question that he is the type of friend anyone would want to grow old with. Today, he mentioned twice that I have a great heart. Just for that reason, he is #1 on my nice list!

Patrin: I absolutely love her confidence, her sense of humor, and honesty. She is straightforward and I enjoy how she says things about me as clear as they can be. She is the kind of person who is sincere, thoughtful, and considerate. She also loves my sweets! It is incredible to me how she is always ready to go and have a good time. She is definitely a great addition to our group. I love her laugh as well! Needless to say, she is on my nice list.

Prandes: So kind, generous, and thoughtful. She is the kind of person who is always thinking about others. Sometimes, she contacts me out of the blue just to say she has a little something she thought I would like. Few people take so much time to think about others, and that is a great trait in this modern busy world. I love when she calls me "Esmeralda" and how she defines me as "the bitch" (which is inaccurate since, as I have previously mentioned, the DNA test came out as 98% bitch and 2% tears: one for each eye). She is still hanging out on my nice list.

Maril A.: So beautiful and kind. She captivated me when I started running with the run club just by being so nice and generous to me. I never thought such an amazing, cool, and pretty runner would ever be so nice to me; someone who could barely run in comparison with her. Her sense of humility was impressive. I am so blessed I got to know this girl who also loves studying me, asking me all kinds of questions just to call me out on my BS. Also, sometimes when I run, I try to pretend I look as sexy and attractive as her. Just for being herself she on my nice list.

J.T.: Straight to the naughty list! OK... OK... Since I want Santa to bring me presents, I will say that I just love how he has opened his beautiful home to all of us and how he and his wife make us feel so welcome, even though when they first started hosting, they didn't even know us that well. He is also responsible for bringing us all closer together. He makes the most delicious Chilean piscos... ALL RIGHT!!! Best Peruvian pisco sour ever! But he is very mean to me. He picks on me all the time. And I know often the people that mess with us the most are the ones who truly like us. For that, I will temporarily add him to the nice list. At least till Christmas Day.

Aligri: Omgosh! Pucky! She actually never called me that. She didn't have to; it was love at first sight! When I arrived at the run club, she was the first person I talked to. All it took was a look into her eyes to know I wanted to be friends with this girl. During my first month at the run club, I worked hard to reach her pace and run with her. Ever since, we have run five half marathons together. However, the race that touched my heart the most was when we did both of our first 10Ks at the Turkey Trot. I just couldn't keep up with her anymore and I told her to go. She refused to let me fall behind. That was the day I knew for sure I've been right since the first time I looked into her eyes. She is also one of the most amazing women I've met in my life. I think if I was a man, I would want to marry her. Since I am not, I just hope there's a very lucky guy out there who will have the pleasure to have this funny, smart, strong, fantastic woman as his wife, if she wishes to (because she is very hard to get). She is the nicest on my nice list (yeah, let's just forget what I said about Ecos. Even better: let's do an overall male and female category instead).

For 2020, I wish many more days like this for all of us!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, my friends!