First day of training

I got up bright and early at 5:45 this morning for the first day of my training program. I had my coffee and cereal, and was to Land Park by 6:50. Everyone was very quiet this morning. After a brief introduction to the program, we began our first training run at about 7:05. From the starting point (around 13th Avenue and Land Park) we headed down 13th Avenue to Riverside, then over the freeway to the river trail. From there, we ran to Miller Park, turned around and came back.

Here is the course we took:

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Ignore the weird loop near Riverside and the freeway. Google added it to get me to the bike trail and wouldn't let me take it off.

From the start, I was close to the front of the group (which seemed to be about 50 people). I ended up about 20 feet behind a group of about 5 guys, and was passed by one girl about half a mile in. I was going a bit faster than normal, which I will have to work on. I have to remember that it isn't a race, it is training!

At the overpass, I fell a little further behind. Throughout the run, I kept the pace, with about 5 or so more guys passing me before the end. Unlike most of the group, I was alone for most of the run.

I ended up finishing the 5 miles in a little over 42 minutes, a bit faster than I usually go for a Sunday run. That was fine for today, but I will have to work on toning that down for future longer runs.

The course was very pretty. I liked it a bit better than the American River Parkway, but that might be because it wasn't a crowded race so I got to look at the river more.

Back at the park, we did stretching for 10 minutes or so, which was great. I need to work on that! All in all, I'm glad I joined the program, and I'm looking forward to the next workout!