Finding my running group

I left the office today at 4:50 PM, having arrived at 8:35 AM. It was drizzling and I was afraid the runwould get cancelled but the rain did not push through. I had to race home, let out the fur babies before I go out for the Wednesday night run. My son had gone to the Cayote Mountains in Southern California and fur babies were not allowed. I was afraid that I would not be able to continue my training. I let them out, fed them and even thought of bringing Marshall (border collie) he is a good companion hiker. I did not want Lucy (Australia cattle dog) to be left by herself. To be fair I left them both.

At the trail overlooking one of the levees at Folsom Lake.

It was 6.7 miles to our meeting place at Cavitt Stillman Junior High School, with slight traffic it is a 15-minute drive. The run starts from the school parking lot, via a wide fire road that skirts part of Lake Folsom. The trail is with gently rolling hills and city lights from afar make it a beautiful run. But it is winter and the temperature is 57F at the start of the run. I wore my North Face rain jacket just in case it did rain. The rain jacket is a good insulation, too because it traps the body heat and becomes a wind breaker. We ran to the gate, did 2 hill repeats by the water tower. Total mileage is 4.25. I try to run my pace to match Carina’s. We are both signed up for the San Francisco Marathon and I want to stay with her through the whole course.

10-mile run photo rest (Photo credit Carina).

It took me quite some time to find a group to run and train with. Fleet Feet with whom I did 4-weeks of beginners’ trail training and 10-weeks of half marathon training did not have any training schedule that would match my goal of July 29. I searched through the Meet-up group site and found Folsom trail runners and Buffalo Chips Running Club in Sacramento. I joined a 3-mile shake-up run on December 2 with Buffalo Chips and little did I know it was a shake-up run for the CIM (California International Marathon).

I finally got my approval to join the Folsom Trail Runners and I signed-up for the Wednesday night run at Cavitt. I met Carina and Hassan the leaders of the Wednesday night run. They were very friendly and invited me to sign-up with the Facebook group Trail Running Adventures. Since then I have run 3 Wednesday night 4-miles runs with them and a 10-mile Sunday run from Beale’s Point, Lake Folsom.

The runners in the group have an impressive resume. Like Carina has run 25 marathons. The group also have run 100-milers, 50s and ultras. I am glad to have found this group because I know I will learn a lot from them and I will be able to build the miles necessary for my preparation for the SF marathon.

This coming Sunday, we will have a 13-mile run which is the 1^st section of the Salmon Falls 50K course. I am EXCITED!!!!!

10-mile run high!