First Group Run

Well, I did it. I set my alarm for 5:45 and managed to get my not-a-morning-person-ass to the group run by 6:30. There were quite a few people there so it was a nice size group. Most of them seemed to already know each other although I did hear a few "lots of new-comers" comments. And I for sure felt that 'being sized up' feeling as I'm sure the other new comers did.

The organizer started the day by handing out our schedules. Some people are training for marathons while others are training for a half. Based on what we said our goal time was prior to today's run, we had a schedule based on what we should be running. My first thought while flipping through the schedule was, "wow, this is way more organized than what I'm doing now" which is exactly the point of me being there. I'm so used to running just to run and while I think it's good that I listen to my body, (meaning, if I feel good, I go long, if not, I only run 4 or 5 miles) this approach is exactly what I need. They have organized track workouts at the local high school on Wednesday nights which will be good for me because those speed workouts are something I've not been able to get done.
According to my half marathon schedule for this program, I was to run 4-8 miles today and, like the FIRST program, at a much slower pace then I normally run. I got into the 9:30/mile group and off we went. I will say this, starting out at 6:30 in the morning makes a huge difference in this heat/humidity. It was incredible how hot it already was by 7:30!

We ran the first mile in 9:25 but the next few were more like 8:40, 8:50, 9:00. Some of the people around me were only running 6 so at the 3 mile point, they turned and headed back. At that point, I got in with another woman and we slowed down to closer to a 9:20/mile and chatted a bit. She was very nice, lives near me, has a daughter in the same school as my son, etc., etc. It was nice to chat and meet someone but really weird to be doing it while running. I'm so used to running alone. It was good though because at the end of our 8 miles (1hr 15min), I felt comfortably tired...like I could have run more but didn't feel like it was a wasted run...if that makes any sense.

So day one I'd say was fine. It's pretty cool to look at the clock after running 8 miles and it's not even 8:00am yet! I'll go out again next Saturday. And I'm for sure going to head to the track for the speed drills on Wednesday evening...that should be interesting. I have no idea what to expect.