A journey of 13.1 miles begins with a single step

So I went to the orientation and first group run of the half marathon training program this week. The people seem nice but I was a little nervous after the orientation. The head lady was talking about how we should get fitted for shoes designed for our individual running stride, how we should be wearing high-tech fabrics instead of cotton, how GPS watches help you keep on pace and how you should never share something called "Body Glide" with another person. It all sounded very expensive. Granted, the program is run by a running store, so I understand that they'd promote the things they sell. But one of the things I like about running is that it doesn't require any special gear. I can just throw on some shorts, a t-shirt and sports bra, grab my sneakers and go. I know that running longer distances requires some extra preparation and gear (water, gels or other workout fuel, etc.) but I've been running for 14 years and I've never been fitted for shoes or worn fancy GPS gadgets or tricked-out sports clothes. Maybe I will look into some of that, but my goal is to improve my endurance, not empty my wallet. I guess like everything else, I will listen to other people's advice and then do what works for me.

The first group workout was this morning. I'm in the 10:00 minute mile pace group (the groups range from (9:00 – 12:00 minute miles). You're supposed to run at a pace that feels easy so you can go farther and not get injured. I'm glad there are pace leaders because I can never tell how fast I'm going unless I'm on a treadmill. Today's workout was only 5 miles, and I felt really good afterward, like I could have gone farther, so I'm hoping that feeling continues. Tomorrow we'll get the list of workouts for the next week or two, so we'll see how that goes.

Lyric of the moment: “I get my loving on the run...”