So Saturday was a huge day for me. I put aside all my fears ( and I had a LOT!) about joining a running group, and dove headfirst. Goal race is the Austin Half Marathon on Feb 19th 2012, but this training program will dovetail nicely into the other two half marathons I have to complete to do the Austin Distance Challenge (see earlier post here).
The group meets for 26 weeks and although I joined late, I was confident I could run the 5.5 miles they were scheduled for Saturday. The group is really well organized. I met Jennifer H., who runs the group, and she was really nice and welcoming. I decided to join the 10.30 group (runs 10 min 30 sec mile pace) to ease into it - the great thing about this group is each pace group (approx every 30 secs) has a leader and you can always move up or down in pace time. This turned out to be the perfect group for me, as the run was very hilly the first half...an out and back run to St. Edwards University. I did have a major charlie horse in my left calf that had me really wondering if I could make it - hurt like a bitch! I was able to stay with the leader and thankfully the return trip was easier as it sloped mostly downhill. It was a gorgeous morning for a run - we started at 7am straight up after a short warm up. The neighborhood was nice, and we took a few cross country jaunts on local trails. The hills were challenging, but fun. The group had a water stop set up which was really cool. Most people carried water - which I will do on longer runs. Anything under 6 miles and I'm OK with water before and after unless it's really hot. Thankfully it was about 64 at the start I'd guess...cool enough for a warm up jacket!
The group I ran with had about 15 people and Cheryl was our leader. She was calm, friendly and supportive. The group seemed pretty friendly too, and it was cool that you could just run, or talk to people. Whatever you were comfortable with. I liked the camaraderie we had, it was a nice group. All in all I'd highly recommend the group to anyone. A nice perk is the 10% discount card for Luke's Locker - you get a one time 20% too which I really hammered. Let's just say I saved most of the fee I spent on membership fees to the Austin Fit group. I'm really psyched about actually training for my goals instead of my previous stumbling along alone. I've always thought of myself as a solitary runner, but I have always enjoyed running in large groups. Maybe that's a throwback to my Army days!
I also get access to the group weekly training plans - and they have informal get togethers to train during the week...next Saturday will be a 7 mile run for our group. Can't wait!
