My first group run

I think I'm going to like this.

I had my first group run with the Chicago Endurance Sports winter training program on Saturday and really enjoyed it.

I was surprised with how organized everything was- especially with a full roster of 500 runners! We met up at Fleet Feet Sports' Piper's Alley location on North Ave. and geared up. It was nice to have a place to dress and keep my stuff instead of stashing it under a bush as I was doing all summer on my runs in Chicago!

In this half-marathon program, there are six different training schedules handed out to the runners depending on where you are in your training at the time of sign up. The schedules start with lower mileage build-up with the run/walkers and work all the way up to the "yellow" group (me) who, to my surprise, consists of mostly ex and current marathoners. Of course we get the huge long runs right off the bat!

Everyone then lines up to whatever pace you'd like to run for that day and off you go! Most of the runners have never trained in cold weather before, and most are just beginning their training. It was very cool to meet and talk to so many different people of all running abilities. I can't wait for the next group run on Wednesday.

I will say one thing, though. Running with a pace leader feels MUCH faster than when going solo. Even though I picked an easy 9:30 pace to start out with, it felt like 8:30! I guess when running solo you can back off when you need to. If you do it here, you lose your pace group and you're on your own. This is good in that it will discipline me to keep my pace throughout my runs to reach my goal finish times. Next weekend I'll to 9:00 pace, and go faster from there.

This coming Monday I'll be starting up my weight and core training again. I traditionally start up with weights in the winter since my mileage lower. Weights were just taking too much of my energy when I was training for Chicago. It will be nice having my gym only 5 minutes from my house!

And so with that I will leave you with the Funniest Treadmill Videos of All Time courtesy of our friends over at Running is Funny!