Start time: 11/12/05, 8:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 8 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 10:30min/mile

Saturday morning I met up with a handful of people from my pace group (Ali, Carla, John, Mark, and Randy) for a nice and brisk 8-miler. I say brisk because it was a wee bit nippy outside; between a running jacket (that later went around my waist as I warmed up) and some shirt layers, though, life was good. It felt good to be out with the group again, and more importantly after last Tuesday’s crash-and-burn jaunt around the neighborhood it was also quite nice to get back into the swing of things.

It’s always a big mystery to see who will actually show up throughout the winter. Mark and Randy are definites, of course; they were out most weekends last year too, and they’re both probably going to run the Frederick Marathon at the end of April. It’ll be nice to have the others as well with us, though. They’re all great people and it really does make the time pass by so much more enjoyably. (And Julie, of course, will be back as well once her toe finishes healing. Right now she’s taking all of November off so hopefully… fingers crossed… Christmas will come early this year.)

Not too much else to report, other than it was nice to have the group moving a little faster than our normal group runs and everyone seeming to be good about it!