Tonight was our first group run for the half marathon training program. Being the type A personality that I am, I arrived a little early. It was supposed to start at 6pm, however with such a large group, getting everyone gathered took a bit. We didn’t “start” till around 6:10p, mind you, I got there early, so I was waiting for around for about 15 min already. We were on the bay, so it was quite chilly and I was getting a little antsy. All I wanted to do was run! Isn’t that what were are there to do? So, coach Blake starts up and because this is our first group run, he wants to go over things before we actually start running. Keep in mind, there have been two orientation meetings (I attended one) and then if you were already signed up for the program, he has sent out a ton of emails. Seriously, like 20 in the last three days. But, for all the people that didn’t attend the orientations or were not signed up yet, he wanted to do an abridged version again……I was super cold and almost not in the mood to run anymore. He finally finished talking at 6:45pm and then there was a warm-up. I definitely needed a “warm-up”. This however wasn’t much. A few light stretches.
Finally we were going to run. Oh, but wait, we needed to separate into our groups. There is a run/walk group for people that are “out of shape” or don’t run regularly or at all. Then there is the intermediate group for people that can run continuously for about 4 miles at a pace between 8-11min/mile. This is where the majority of people fit in. And lastly, there is the advanced, “haul ass”, group. These people run 10 miles regularly at 7min/mile.
I was in the intermediate group. Since there were so many of us, they wanted to release us in waves to separate us up. He wanted to let the 9 min. and under mile people go first, then 10 then 11min. I didn’t know what I was. I’ve never really paced myself before. My normal runs are at Torrey Pines on the trails and hills. I am obviously slower on hills then I would be on a flat surface. To play it safe, I went with the 10 min. group. Seeing as I passed the majority of the 9 minute people, I wasn’t feeling too bad. We did an easy 4 miles.
So far, after one run, I am glad I signed up to do this. It will help me stay on track and reach my goal of completing a half marathon. I think I probably could physically do it now based on what I normally run, but this training will help me increase my pace and perform better.
According to the schedule, I have to run again on Thursday and then our next group run is Saturday, 7:30am. No late night partying for this girl! J/k, I don’t party hard anymore, but I will for sure need to keep the glasses of wine in check 😉