running, running into friends, and a little bit of peer pressure

Last night I ran six miles through DC, four with Ingrid.

On my solo run to pick her up at her apartment, I ran into my good friend Ben. We don’t see each other nearly enough these days so we scheduled our next available hangout time (not until October), talked for a few minutes, and then went our own ways. After seeing him, I thought about 1. How I miss him and it’s hard to be an adult and see your friends so much less often than you’d like to and 2. How I need to really get good at my powers of peer pressure this year with all of the people, Ben included, that I am trying to convince to ride Ragbrai 2012. I am going to make a power point that will make everyone fall in love with the idea of riding their bikes 450 miles across Iowa. Watch out world, Carrie and your bike seat are out to getcha!

Tonight I have a date with two people who will probably never fall in love with that idea: Sarah and Hadley. However, I just recently learned that they are swimmers so they are going to somehow make me fall in love with swimming for sport. It is TBD whether we will actually be swimming on our date tonight or whether that will happen later. But I have a bunched up sports bra and bathing suit bottom in my purse in case we have the opportunity!

How do you convince your friends to join you in something that you know they will love? Is a little bit of healthy peer pressure acceptable? Do you want me to try and peer pressure you too?