reflecting on what social media has done for me

When I began my blogging journey, I had no idea what the process would bring.

I was afraid.

Scared to show myself, scared to share my words, scared to put myself out there. I imagined stalkers and nefarious organizations hunting me down in the night.  There was no end to the litany of reasons I gave myself to never hit "Publish".

Did I mention that I have a vivid imagination?

But even with such an imagination, I never once envisioned that my life would improve from social media, that the connections I would make from Twitter and Dailymile and the blog itself would enrich me in ways I never dreamed.

I still remember the pit of fear in my stomach the first time I let my blog become listed in search engines.

But if I had never hit publish, I would never have had these amazing experiences:

• Running a Ragnar relay with a team I had met via Twitter and having one of the best relay experiences ever
• Meeting dailymile friends in real life at a morning shakeout run and brunch before the Portland marathon
• Helping a Twitter friend complete a 36 mile run for her birthday after pacing the first half of the marathon
• Running the entire Wildwood trail for my birthday with a group of fabulous pdx running chicks
• Making real, local running friends who are willing to meet me at 6 am for a 15 mile training run - midweek!
• Interviewing a cool teacher who was running the 216 mile Cascade Lakes Relay solo and helping him meet his fundraising goals
• Running my first 50k
• Learning about the Pac Rim 24 hour race, signing up to help out, running 35 miles and seeing real life Badwater badass Lisa Bliss run a zillion miles
• Driving, crewing and pacing a group of Twitter friends in their first 100 mile race, while being drenched, cold and muddy - and later learning how much it meant to one of the participants
• Having the chance to help race direct a 10k race, and learning that's not what I want to do!
• Earning 4 stars as a marathon maniac - before I met all these people online, I thought running two marathons in a year was insane

Every so often, I wonder if all of the blogging and tweeting and dailymiling is worth it.  I'll consider going dark - shutting it all down - but then something will happen that reaffirms to me that these things I am doing make my life more interesting.  When I look at this list of experiences I would not have had without the connections I've made via the Internet, I realize just how powerful this tool can be.  Sure, it isn't without risks, but without risk, there is no reward.