Start time: 01/15/04, 9:00am

Location: W&OD Trail

Distance: 10 miles

Run:Walk ratio: 4:1

Average pace: 12:00min/mile

It was a small group this morning, just me, Chris, and Randy. (Or as I joked, “Guys’ Morning Out!”) The weather was cold, but I have to say that we did really well. We ran an eight-miler together, but since Chris had taken some time off for an injury that was a more than respectable distance for him. Randy and I ran an additional two; when we were done I felt like I could’ve done another three or four without batting an eye, and that was a real relief; it’s nice to see that my body hadn’t forgotten how to run slightly longer distances. It was also nice to know that we really weren’t pushing or trying terribly hard and even with two long “Waiting for the light to change” pauses in the middle we still ended up with a 10-miler completed in two hours.

I talked with Randy a little bit about what pace group I’m expecting to be in, and he thought it was pretty doable and realistic. It’ll be great to run with him (and the others) for another year. We’ve got a really good group of people from this past year that look like they’ll be going through the experience again.