It Begins Anew

The Loper season is finally upon us.

On Sunday, I had my first run with my new pace group. I ran a whopping two miles with the group. Next Sunday, we run three.

I know these distances don't seem much to me but they are important nevertheless. And for some of these runners, all they are used to is runs like that, runs that seem short to me but that are standard for them. I used to think 2-3 milers were solid runs, not long runs but distances that were challenging. Those distances now are not as much of a challenge as they once were for me, but for some of these runners they are.

That's just a snippet of what I am faced with as a pace leader. I am there for the newbie and I want to share whatever information I've collected, be it through personal experience or advice from a fellow runner, and share it with the newcomers. I know how difficult it all seemed to me when I first started with Lopers and I want to help others see that it's not all that daunting. It's challenging, yes, but long distance running and marathon training shouldn't be intimidating.

There were about 15 runners in the group. A year ago, we had a bigger group but I actually like this number. I hope the runners continue to come out and continue to stick with it. I will try to keep every runner who came out on Sunday with the group, and if they don't stay with the 10s, fine but as long as they are coming out to Lopers on Sundays I will be happy.

I would love nothing more than to pace these newcomers across the finish line at the LA Marathon in 2013. That's my goal, and even though the newbies don't know it yet that's what I hope to accomplish with each and every one of them.