Start time: 09/03/05, 7:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 10 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 11:00min/mile

My first “recovery run” of the season! Normally I’d have had quite a few by now but speed work has meant that instead I’ve been zipping around doing mile repeats those weekends. It felt pretty odd to have this finally happen again, one of only three I’ve got scheduled for the year.

We had a small group, enough to run without having to split up, and to be honest I was less than pleased. Some real problems in terms of direction and leadership, and I don’t think I was the only one who felt it. People kept vanishing without others noticing, there were minor arguements about style… it could have been a thoroughly unpleasant run but I just tried to ignore it and concentrated on chatting with Julie, Ali, Katie, and a few others around me.

It’s rare to have an entire group get along wonderfully like we did last year. This year reminds me much more of 2001, where there were little subsections of the pace group that got along fantastically, but we weren’t all chummy and one huge unit. It’s not a bad thing, so long as you recognize it and move forward with that knowledge. As I was told as a child, “You can’t be best friends with everyone.” Having just good acquaintances with the rest is fine by me.

The actual running part went well, though!