First Running Clinic...exciting!

"It is the soul's duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion."

Rebecca West

There are so many of us in that little Running Room store! Everyone gets sorted out and the new half-marathon group (that's me and about 24 others) starts the evening with a 3K run. I'm feeling good and it's going relatively well, except for the very cold wind in my face. I'm near the back of the pack, but not at the back of the pack. When we get back to the store, it's time to sit and get to know each other. There are Carole and Suzanne, both really nice women and the ones I sort of clicked with right from the start, mostly because they are sitting near enough to talk to, but they really are very nice. Both are first timers also, but Carole has run a few 10Ks and hopes to run her first half in under 2 hours. There is Marc who is doing the clinic so he can run with his friend who has lost 160 pounds over the last year (it kind of teared me up when he talked about him). There's one man who is a veteran and he is with his wife and friend. He basically is here to help them do this and vowed to take them through this and to the finish line (...touching). One mom has her 10 year old son with her and he ran the 3K with us, very cute. Oh and there is John who did the clinic last year, but did not run the half. He said that last year, he did not believe in his ability to do this, but that this year, he believes it and he will do it! Looks like an inspiring group, there were lots of smiles all around and you could feel the excitement in the air (the cold and windy air) :) 

I really look forward to seeing how everybody does. Oh, and now I know what everyone means about feeling pushed to go faster when running with a group. It's actually a little frustrating to see half the group take off at a pretty good pace right from the start. I went a little too fast at the beginning, but I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to maintain that pace and I slowed down. Must be careful...

We had to say if we had a time goal for Ottawa and although there were a few under-2 hour wannabes, almost everyone said they just wanted to finish. Here's what I said, "I say that I just want to finish, but the truth is that I'd really like to do in no more than 2:30 hours."  :)
Okay, time to get my rear in gear and go have breakfast. Then it's nazi yoga followed by weights and abs. After lunch, haircut :) ...then a 3K with uber hubby (the 3K I didn't get done on Wednesday) and then errands. If anything worth reporting occurs, you'll hear about it on Sunday!
Have a great weekend.
Cheers!