It was a little tricky to find where they meet, but I managed to get there before they all took off. Everyone was really nice, and explained the route to me.
There was another new woman who I started out running with, but neither of us knew where we were going and we were quickly losing sight of the others. She told me to go ahead. I felt bad leaving her, but she had her headphones and seemed perfectly happy to run on her own.
I did a little speedwork to catch up to a couple of people and chatted and ran with one older man for a while before he told me he needed to slow down and that I should go on. They have water and gatorade set up about 3.3 miles from where they start (they take turns putting it out every week), and some of the group waited there to make sure I knew where I was, which was nice. Then they were off again. Some took what is about an 11 mile route, and others went on one that is 13+ miles.
A few of us turned around at the water stop and I ended up running back with a man and his dog in total silence. Not really my idea of running with a group.
They run around a reservoir, which is very pretty (I forgot to take pictures), but there really aren't any mid-pack runners for me to run with.
My usual group starts together and ends together and you can always find someone to run with at any pace. There's more of a community feeling than with this other group. I know part of that feeling is because I'm new to the group, but if I hadn't made an effort to catch up with people, I feel like I may have been left behind.
After I got home, I lounged around with Buddy and some coffee before tackling the enormous pile of dishes in our kitchen. I was doing so well keeping up with the dishes until this week and then we were out of clean plates...
Yoga Camp officially kicked off yesterday, but Adriene understands that people might not be at their best on New Year's Day, so the yoga actually started today. It was a pretty relaxing video, which worked out nicely since I've been doing a lot of running the last couple days.
Do you ever run with a group?
Are you good at mornings? I'm not.
I'm for sure a morning person but I'm not great at the group thing. I get kind of intimidated by groups. I do like to run by myself!
ReplyDeleteI like to run by myself most of the time, but running with a group can also be a lot of fun. It also makes me faster! :)
DeleteI started the yoga boot camp tonight! I have a feeling I'll be sore tomorrow. Thanks for blogging about this - I actually really like her method of moving through positions if you need to ( I'm looking at you Downard Dog!). I always thought this was a yoga no-no and always made it intimidating and frustrating for me.
ReplyDeleteOh Hooray! I'm glad you're doing the bootcamp! One of the things she says a lot is "no yoga robots" - I love that she puts less emphasis on holding the perfect pose and more on doing what works for you.
DeleteI always run with a group. I've been fortunate to find an amazing training group I've run with going on four years now. Some of my best friends have come out of the group. Runners understand each other. Oh, and we run early, like earlier than 7:30am. Usually, 5am or 6am on average. :)
ReplyDeleteI would try running with them again, and see how you feel comfort-wise. You just need to find running buddies you enjoy being with and are evenly matched pace-wise.
I think it's good to do a bit of both (solo running and group running), they both have their benefits! The problem with that group was just that - there were no other people running close to my pace, only much faster, or much slower.
DeleteI once showed up for a new group of 4 runners (including me) because it was like a 1/2 mile from my house. The other 3 runners were 6'2 men who took off like bullets and left me in the dust. When I finally made it back to our starting point they were standing around waiting for me. I felt bad for making them wait and embarrassed at being so slow. Even though they were really really sweet about it, I never went back.
ReplyDeleteI would have died! It's hard to find a group that is just the right one :)
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