1st Official Practice…

Saturday was my first official practice with Team in Training! It was really a GREAT day. And it started with a 5:30am wake up call. I think THAT was the toughest part, really. Had to be at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena by 7am to get things started, so the 5:30am alarm clock rang… and rang.

I was surprised and actually happy to see that everyone was so cheery at 7am! All the mentors, coaches, teammates, and staff were all smiles that morning, greeting us all and making us feel really welcomed. It was greatly appreciated. Looking forward to really getting to know all these great people.

First things first, fill out any necessary paperwork and get some general logistics out of the way. They introduced all the coaches and mentors that will be our support team throughout this process. SO many of them! Awesome!  We also talked more about what the general training schedule would look like and what we can expect. Nothing too crazy given that I AM training for a half marathon. Although the mileage is going to keep increasing as the summer goes on. Next thing you know my midweek runs will consist of 5, 7, and 9 miles. Brang it!

So we headed off to do our Pace Assessment. Basically to determine what groups we will be put into while we train depending on how fast we finish our miles. We were to run a 5k. 3.1miles. Now, this normally wouldn’t make me nervous, but I had been sick for a week with two full days in bed with a nasty cough and the flu. I was not really excited to run these miles. But I trekked on around the Rose Bowl. Fun Fact: the loop around the Rose Bowl is roughly a 5k. Real nice and easy way to tell how far you’ve gone. So all we had to do was follow the fences.

The miles were marked in chalk and had a mentor at each mile cheering you on. It was a nice way to push you to keep going and a good reminder that we were not alone on this. Mile 1 came and went pretty quickly, but the rest were a little harder.  At mile 2 I had one of the mentors run with me for a little while and pumping me up. It helped! Had me smiling and laughing when all I wanted to do was finish. Pictures of were taken of us running. Here I am in all my running glory. :) 

And just like that mile 3 was gone and I finished with a time of 42:21. That puts me at a 13:39/mile pace. Again, I’ve done better on my midweek runs, but I was getting over a bad cough and chest congestion, so I cut myself some slack. I’ll get there. Patience.

After our run we headed back for waffles and chocolate milk! While we ate we had a fundraising clinic. Folks shared some tips and guidance on fundraising. I started early so I have a nice jump. $800+ before training officially started! Thanks to all who have donated! If you still haven’t but would like to, click that little widget on the top left-hand corner of my page and donate away. Really appreciate it folks!!

So this coming Monday my training schedule will officially be on. It will consist of short 30min runs, cross training, resting, and more running. Next Saturday at the Rose Bowl again at 7am!

Let’s. Do. This.