I first found out about Rose City Track Club when this dude passed me on the Reed College campus during the 2021 PDX Marathon. I was cruising, or so I thought, until a Tracksmith singlet emblazoned with RCTC came into my peripheral and then off into the sunset. (NOTE: It was my first race and I went a little hard in the first 10… Feel like I COULD HAVE paced him better, but, shrug emoji next time…) Plus I already talked about all this. The memory is just burned into my brain.

Between this introduction to RCTC, and my previously-mentioned difficulty of finding friends this “late in life,” the people I’ve met as a result of this track club have been some of the nicest and most welcoming, not to mention just genuinely stoked on seemingly everything.

Back, back, way back, I used to have no friends because I had just moved to Portland from San Diego. I shouldn’t say I had NO friends. I had a few, but also, it’s sorta tough making new friends when you’re nearing 40, just moved to a new place, and pretty regularly like to watch Always Sunny on Hulu versus “attending local events.” All this to say, it wasn’t until I ran the 2021 Portland Marathon that I got introduced to Rose City Track Club (mainly because some dude in an RCTC singlet passed me around mile 16, and I vowed to find out who it was…)