Day 1 at The Den

Started the half-marathon clinic this morning, bright and early (8 a.m. on a Sunday!) at the Runner's Den. It really was bright (and early) since it was a beautiful blue-sky sunny day. Cold, though. There was ice on the sidewalks and we could see our breath puffing out ahead of us as we jogged. I say "jogged" because although I was worried I'd fallen behind having taken a week off because of a cold, I was more than able to keep up to finish the 10 km. We finished in 1:08. The pace was great. I was never out of breath, and I don't feel at all sore or tired this afternoon.

Last night I put out my tights, runners, sports bra, long-sleeved technical shirt and toque and gloves. This morning on my way to meet the group I felt like a kid who's missed the first week of classes: I was worried everyone would have already buddied up and found their spots and wouldn't want to be my friend. When I got there I found that it was only partly true. The store was packed with about 60 runners all looking like they were ready to run a marathon today -- bright eyed, long and lanky, decked out in the best running gear, and chatting up a storm in little clusters about things like electrolytes and split times. I did feel out of my league, but then we headed out in smaller groups and I felt better right away because it seemed to me we were a fast-moving herd of snails sliding our way along the sidewalk and I did chat with a few people who seemed friendly enough. I was surprised to see the average age was probably closer to 40 than to 25, as I'd expected. I'm definitely on the younger end of the spectrum. After the run I met my mom and her running buddies at a coffee shop where we sat around relaxing with green tea lattes and zuchini muffins. What a great Sunday morning.

I'm feeling very optimistic today, and the sunshine is definitely part of it. I can do 10 km in under an hour, so to finish the run at almost an hour ten made it wonderfully relaxed. (Except for the hill, that was more of a challenge.) Tuesday I'll run again 40 minutes to an hour either on my own or with a group in Port Moody. I'm so glad to be over that head cold (it only took a week!) and I can picture coming in to that half-marathon finish line on May 1 already.