My Running Group

Another weekend has come and gone and what a marvelous weekend it was!

My weekend began with my first back-to-back training run for Dumbo Double Dare as part of the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend. The race is scheduled for the end of August and so far, training is going well!

I know I talk about my running group often, but I never share the details of my running group. Sign-up for the Fall Marathon training season began last weekend, so what better time to to share? No time like the present, right?  

When I decided to train for the 2010 Disney World Half Marathon (my very 1st, by the way), I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. 10 mile, 12 mile training runs…around MY neighborhood….lapping the same loop over and over and over again…WHAT?! (I would go crazy!)

Thankfully, my area has a great running group, manned by two fabulous individuals who help train and prepare us for running Marathons. I joined in the Fall of 2009 and haven’t looked back since!

I’ve made countless friendships and have completed a lot of races because of my running group. They are like an extension of my family, several even came to the funeral home to give their condolences for my grandfather. Can we say amazing people?! Yes, they are!

On Friday nights, I check start times on the website in order to formulate a plan for Saturday. Start times depend on each runners mileage for the day. Since I had 10 miles to run on Saturday, I should have arrived at 5:30 a.m. Yeah, whoops that didn’t happen.

Saturday morning, I woke up late and was supposed to meet my friend Kelli and her husband Darren before beginning our run. I text her to let her know I was going to be late, and told her to go on ahead and run without me.

Since everyone in my running group is training for different races, our mileage isn’t all the same, and we don’t all run out as a group at once. As seen above, everyone’s start times are different depending on which race they are training for. I made friends with Heather because we were both training for Houston a few years ago, and Kelli joined us not long after.

During initial sign up, coach asks which race each person is training for and gives a schedule tailored to that specific race.

So many races, so little time! The schedule above is only a half July/August schedule, not one tailored to a specific race.

Also, you don’t have to train for a marathon to join my running group…my coach also gives walking/fitness plans to those who have a goal of getting fit. I love that people of all levels, shapes, sizes, speeds, abilities, etc are encouraged to join!

Once I arrived at our group meeting spot on Saturday morning, I greeted others who were still milling around before their run, I checked out the routes on our route board, then I had a 10 mile route band taped around my wrist by our base coach. Depending on the mileage for the day, a wrist band could hold anywhere from a 3 mile route, all the way to a 21 mile route.

Directions in place, ready to go!

Since Heather was out of town and I missed Kelli and Darren, I ran my 10 miles solo on Saturday.

We were blessed with yet another beautiful sunrise on Saturday morning. Early mornings are one of my favorite times of the day!

Ok, so here’s how the wrist band works. If you pay attention to your wrist band, you’ll see cones at various corners along the routes. Again, you have to PAY ATTENTION to your route band because several routes intersect and you might end up taking a wrong turn…which means you could either short yourself or end up running extra mileage.

Hi cones! Along the course, we have stations with Kleenex, water/Gatorade, and a trash can.

Purple/Blue Gatorade is my favorite! Prior to joining this running group, I accidentally drank some of their Gatorade at a race. Whoops! They didn’t yell at me, thankfully!

Yellow cones are corner turns and blue cones are mile markers. This happened to be a turn around point for the route I was not running. See, paying attention helps in the long run…no pun intended. Ok, maybe so.

Despite the humidity (80%, thank you), I pushed myself and ran strong. I tried to stay under a 10 minute pace the entire run and I did!

By the end of it all, I was drenched but I felt great!  I can’t wait for Fall and cooler, breathable weather once again!

10 miles, done!

After the run, I caught the tail end of coach’s seminar. She usually gives a post-run seminar during the first several weeks of a new season. Even though I’ve heard the information in the past, it never hurts to hear it again….especially since she has a lot of good information to share! During these seminars, she gives out advice, tips, do’s and don’ts, and allows questions of any kind.

A few things I left out:

• Every person who signs up receives a training shirt
• My coach is RRCA Certified
• We are never left stranded….Even when I was the only one training for the Disney World Marathon a few years ago – I distinctly remember being the last one to finish an 18 mile training run and my coaches were still there waiting on me. AWESOME!
• We have occasional Family Socials & Picnics
• Pasta Parties are hosted before select Marathons
• Hill/Beach/Track workouts are held during the week for both the Fall/Spring seasons

I love my running group, the friends I’ve made through the years, and the support that is given - not only during training season but in life as well.

Are you a part of a running group? Does your area have a group that meets for long runs? If you don’t have a running group, do you have a friend or friends that you run with? Please share, I would love to hear about your experiences!

------------------------------------------------

Don’t forget about my Pixie Power Giveaway going on right now! Giveaway ends TOMORROW! Good luck! :0)