The first group run, all over again

Last night was the Reach the Beacon group's first meeting - and man was the store crowded. I spotted quite a few of the runner's from last year's group, too, who had come back for another round.

Unlike me, however, many of them have been running all winter (which was evident just by looking at them). They looked svelte! They looked like runners! So that's what "in shape" looks like. Good to know.

I'm sure they could just as easily tell that I have NOT been running all winter. I have been semi-consistently hitting the gym since January. Nothing too intense, but it at least puts me ahead of where I was this time last year (but not by much).

Don't get me wrong, I still have issues with the pants (you know, that looming tower of too-tight trousers that's been illegally squatting in my closet for...well...a long, long time).

But this isn't about pants.

It's about taking that first step (for the second time) towards a goal that's four-plus months out.

Once John Rogers and lead trainer Michael Gaige spoke to the group about the program and what to expect, we broke out into training groups. Can't run 20 minutes on a track without stopping to walk? Right over here, folks.

The more capable runners did a 30-minute run on the Back Cove trail. We "less-capable" runners did a 20-minute walk/run. It was supposed to be an alternate of 2 minutes running, 3 minutes walking. Sounds like a cake walk, right?

But imagine having forgotten your watch, so you're reliant on the runners in front of you. And imagine that, five minutes in, they decide that the 2:3 ratio is too easy, so they just keep running.

You're plugging along, making conversation and trying to distract yourself from the fact that this seems like WAY LONGER than 2 minutes, but you don't dare stop before they do.

At any rate, 20 minutes goes by in a flash. It's a good welcome to the program run (especially for all those people who showed up thinking, "They won't make us run on the first day"). Um, yes they will. At least yesterday was precipitation free, kind of sunny and not bone-chilling cold.

Last year's first run was done in three inches of slush during a snow storm (uphill both ways and barefoot, of course).

It was one of those sloppy early spring days that kind of tick you off because you've been shoveling snow for what seems like eternity and while you like snow just as much as the next guy you've hit some sort of snow acceptance limit and the thought of scraping off your windshield one more time starts you twitching ever so slightly - nothing too wild or anything it's just the past few days were kind of mild and you thought all this white stuff was a thing of the past but now it's back and you don't know why because the calendar says 'spring' dammit!

You know, one of those days like today.

I'm not bitter.