10-mile "Group Run"

And I use that term “group run” VERY loosely. I basically drove an hour and a half this morning to run 10 miles by myself.

Only about 30 or so people showed up. Maybe less. I don’t know what kept them from coming out. Maybe the forecasted rain? (Which it never did do, by the way…) Maybe the fact that it was 78 degrees with 80% humidity at 6:30? I don’t know. But they weren’t there.

In the emails the chair person told me not to worry about pace because they had members of all levels. BULL. CRAP. I started out with three chicks but by mile 1.5 I knew I had to let them go on ahead. Their LSD pace was 10:00. And they were the slow ones of the group.

There were a few ladies out there training to walk the Women’s Half Marathon in Nashville, but that didn’t do me any good either. Slower than the runners but faster than the walkers. That’s me.

All was not lost though. The route was on the same course as the Clarksville HM that I ran last year and that I will be running again this year, so it does give me more experience and familiarity with the course.

It wasn’t a HORRIBLE run. It wasn’t my fastest 10 miles, but it wasn’t my slowest either.  (Overall pace was 11:24, which is actually at the fast end of McMillan’s calculated spectrum for what my LSD should be. So I’m not too broken-hearted.)  My legs just felt heavy and sluggish from the get-go. After I thought about it, though, it really didn’t surprise me. Last week I did my long run on Sunday, then I ran Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and now today too. That’s five out of seven days, which is more than my body is used to.  I’m READY for these two upcoming rest days! I will probably throw in some light cross-training one day, but for the most part I’m taking advantage of the downtime.

Another reason it wasn’t a wasted trip is that I had to go to Clarksville anyway to get these.

And my club membership got me a sweet 10% discount!

Yep, it was that time. Today’s run put my Mizuno Wave Rider 13s at 302 miles, so it’s time to start working a new pair into the mix. They’ve been a good shoe for me, so I stuck with them.

I knew I was going shoe shopping after the run plus still had a 90-minute drive home, so I at least had the presence of mind to take a change of clothes with me. Alas, after the run there was nowhere to change! Let’s just say I relived some very old memories. It’s been a long time since I stripped down in the cab of a Z71!

I’m not writing off the club just yet. I’ve got things going on next week and the next that will keep me from being able to go, but I’ll probably head back the following week and give it another go. If I gave up on everything the first time it sucked, I wouldn’t be running anyway!