Running with the MCRRC

I managed to roll out of bed at 730am this past Sunday to meet up with the Montgomery County Road Runners Club (MCRRC) at Ken-Gar Park in Kensington, MD. Although I plan to run in their Experienced Marathoners Training Program which begins in July, I thought it would be worth coming out to meet some of the other runners who get together every weekend to put in long runs. I jogged down to the park which is a mile from our house for a warm up. Another MCRRC training program, the First Timer's Marathon (FTM) Training Program was already in full swing. There were probably a good 50-60 runners at the park when I arrived. The runners divided up into pace groups based on their current level of fitness ("there's a place for every pace" is the FTM's motto. I joined up with a pace group of 6 other runners, where we averaged 7:50 miles for 10 miles. Our actual pace was around 8 min miles for most of the run, but an enthusiastic 6:25 final mile skewed things towards the faster side.

Ken, one of the runner's in my pace group happened to have a cooler full of beer left over from a party the previous day, that he broke out to share with the other runners (unsanctioned by the MBRCC of course) so I hydrated myself with a Corona, met many of the others who had gotten this beautiful spring morning off to an early start, and jogged home.

All before 10 a.m.