Trail Running Blog

The Benefits of Running in a Pack

Monday, January 7, 2002
Workout: medium/comfortable to Duarte
Time: slow (easy) Weather: warm

Today was the first day of school after winter break. I felt kind of weird to be running, it may have been because we were running at a different time of day, but it could have also been because I was tired from having to get up so early for school and then having to have to run after. I wasn’t necessarily tired, but I just didn’t feel like running. I guess this happens when you run 6-7 days a week for months at a time. There just doesn’t seem to be an end to it. So for today’s run on the trail, we went a little easier than usual, probably because there were other runners out there that didn’t really run like they were supposed to during the winter break. I was kind of glad though, but I should have made it some kind of workout and at some points in the run, I felt that I could have easily picked up the pace a little. Everyone started running before us and we were the last group of runners on the trail. Coming up, Felipe kind of took off and I tried to keep up with him. We stopped at the 2-mile mark and started resting. But Frank came by and told us to keep going (to Duarte), so we kept running. It’s always good to have other runners around to push you. If I were running alone, it would be a lot easier to slow down or even worse, stop running. But with other runners around, you sort of have to be on your toes, and even better, they’ll be around to push you when you need help. So we ran together as a pack, but I started falling back. So as I was falling back, Frank called me up to the group and that was enough for me to give a little surge to catch up. I mean, it wasn’t a hard pace, it was just the distance between me and the group was the hard part. So, once I got over that part, the rest was easier. Read the rest of this entry »