Long Run Day, Galloway Style

This morning I joined the Galloway training group again for a long run. We met at Raleigh Running Outfitters, and had a 10-mile run planned. We ran around Shelley Lake this morning, and ended up running 10.33 miles. It took me 2:45 minutes today, a little slower than last week, which was a little discouraging. I had trouble with the outside of my left leg again, so I ended up walking the last two miles or so, this time with Meri. We were the last of our group to come in, but the 14/15 mile pace group was still behind us.

It makes me wish there was an in-between pace group, say a 13:30 group. The 14/15:00 pace group is too slow for me personally, but this 13:00 pace group seems a little fast for me right now.

I don't want to quit going to the Galloway group training runs, as I do enjoy the comraderie and advice I get from the fellow runners. I'm glad I finished the "run" this morning, and we did walk that last bit at a brisk pace, faster than I would have by myself.

In other positive news, I'm now over 50% of the way toward finishing the Platinum Award in the President's Challenge! I started working on this program on October 3, 2006, and I finished the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards in pretty quick fashion. The Platinum Award will take me a while, for sure. (Though these long training runs are helping me out a bit!) It's nice to have something long term to shoot for, even if it's not a really big deal. I haven't ordered any of the awards for previous level completions, but if they offer something for the Platinum level by the time I get there, I might just order it. It'll be like a finisher's medal for a very long race. ;-)