Thoughts on a short run

This morning's run was really my 1st experience with cold-weather running. The temperature was 31 degrees (that's F, not C) when we started, with a wind chill of 24!!!! For me, it was cold; really cold. And, it was windy too. OK, enough of that.

In spite of the cold, the run itself was good!!! It was 6.26 miles - starting at our usual place on the North Riverwalk. I ran with pace Group 8. The pace was well controlled. That was good, because at the beginning I could not even feel my feet. Too cold. When we went over the 1st bridge and the wind hit - YIKES!!!

By about mile 4, I felt warm even though the temp was only ~36 at this point. I was comfortable in just a short sleeve shirt + gloves. The gloves were a life-saver this morning. Learning how to dress for running in this weather will take some work.

Back to the run ...
6 miles is really a short distance and it seemed that in no time we were running back over the river (across my nemesis bridge - the Acosta), and back to where we started. Our average pace for 6.26 miles was 14:48min/mile. It was a very comfortable run. I enjoyed it. This is how running is supposed to feel, in my humble opinion.


After the run, I started thinking about that pace. There were about 8 of us running with pace Group 8 who should really be running in pace Group 7. We stopped running with Group 7 because they have not been running at the correct pace (14.5 - 15 min/mile). This morning we ran at that pace, and kept it there. But, in doing that we pushed the pace of Group 8. They should be running at 15.5 - 16 min/mile.


One man in our group suggested that we should start our own pace group (Group 7.5?) because he felt that no matter what, Group 7 would not slow down. I think this may be the best idea. Not just because Group 7 won't slow down, but also because we may be hurting other runners in Group 8 by running too fast for them.

It is really obvious to me now that we need to get this pace issue under control; and quickly.