Today's Run, June 14

We had a great run this morning. Despite having to run a slightly different course en route to the trail, we were both speedy and courteous. Here are the numbers:

Time: 50:20
Distance: 5.14
Average Pace: 9:48 min/mile
Calories Burned: 702

We're only four seconds slower than our race pace, which is a bit aggressive for this time of year. It looked like everyone who was with the group at the turnaround was enjoying themselves, though.

Let me take a minute to talk about what we should be doing at this stage. This is for the novice runners and those who are coming off a long layoff, so if you're a veteran runner in mid-season form, you can ignore the next four paragraphs and skip to the end, where I remind you what time we're running next week.

It's only June. The marathon is in December. For some of you, this is a completely new experience. We've got plenty of time to work on running at a 4:15 marathon pace, or a 2:30 half marathon pace, or whatever you want to do. Right now, just focus on getting out on the road with us for our long runs and moving your body for an hour or two.

This isn't a natural thing for a body to do, particularly one that's used to living at a desk or behind a counter. It feels weird at first, and there are all sorts of shocks and stresses that it needs to get used to. But if you want to run a marathon or a half-marathon, it's important to convince your body that running for several hours straight is more than OK--it's fun.

So right now, our objective isn't to hit a pace target. It's just to get used to running at a more or less constant pace for an extended period of time. Believe me when I tell you that in a few months you'll consider a 12-mile run your "short run." But before we get there, we have to master the basic art of running for a long time.

Everyone seems to be doing very well, and we're all on our way to finishing a half or full marathon in December. At this stage, it seems like we have a lot of training ahead of us, and we do. But that's all right, because we need every bit of it. Six months from now you'll be faster, fitter, and better looking than you are today. Okay, I can't promise the last one, but the first two are definitely true, if you stick to our training schedule.

Once again, we had a great run today, and shared the trail with no problem at all. Next week, with a 6 AM start, we might have less cross-traffic, but who knows?

So I'll see you all next week at 6, when we will run for about an hour together. Until then, feel free to post comments or swap training suggestions in the comments section here.