Conundrum

Austin is an interesting place.  When I left here 5+ years ago, RunTex owned this town.  Now, there are running stores everywhere.  Countless runners are on the loop at Town Lake all day, every day.  There's a plethora of cyclists and triathletes.  There's a multitude of trails to run.  Yet, there doesn't appear to be much in the way of free group runs.  I've dug around and found a couple group rides, but runs are hard to come by.  I've been to one up north, which I mentioned in a previous post.  However, it wasn't much of a group.  There seem to be plenty of groups, but everything costs money here.  I was just searching around and one of the running stores even charges $5 for you to "drop in" and test out their runs.  Are you kidding me?

Maybe what I'm looking for is out there, but it's definitely going to take a while to find it.  The more I sit and think, the more I feel as though I'm going to have to start my own group.  Problem is, I don't have people to start it with.  Very few of my friends here are runners/cyclists, and those that are, are not serious enough about it to really approach about joining a team.  I need to meet people in the scene, but its difficult when the scene seems to be very fragmented and groups want money.