Season #6, officially underway

Back in the day, when I was a TnT newbie, I swore up and down I'd never do Winter season. Training in the cold, the dark, the rain? Yeah, no thank you.

And yet, it seemed fitting that in a year when I did something else I swore I'd never do (26.2 miles, natch) I'd follow that up with another challenge. If I learned anything from the marathon experience, it's that no challenge is too big now.

I hope I don't end up eating my words in a few months ;).

One week into the season, and we've already had run # 2 today, at good ol' Campbell Park, aka my regular 'hood for the weekly buddy runs. Because it is early in the season and participants are still getting their feet wet with the training, it's more important than ever for us mentors to step in and make sure they are well supported and have folks to show them the ropes. Janine, Robin, Julie, and Dianne and I have been running with the newbies this past week to get them comfortable (and hopefully enjoying it all :)), so to make sure we could also get our training in (Napa in less than 4 months--we've gotta kick our butts into gear to get our pace up to snuff!), we met for a "pre-run" run: a 4-miler as a prelude to the mileage we would run with the participants.

I ended up doing 7 miles in total--an extra 3 added on for good measure. Right on track with where we're supposed to be in the training AND we got to help out the peeps!

Upping our pace is going to require lots of trial and error over the next few weeks and months. I'm sure we'll have some set-backs along the way, but I hope they're overshadowed by many, many more triumphs, ala the now legendary Natural Bridges 20-miler.

Here's to what's ahead!!