Eleven runners, four strollers and five kids.

Eleven runners, four strollers and five kids. I just couldn't believe when I showed up this morning for our long run and (including Christy and me) we had eleven runners, four strollers and five kids! The biggest Running Moms group EVER. What a difference a year makes!

(two strollers and one child not pictured.)

The first thing I want to do is welcome our newest Running Mom Kristine and our first Running Dad Cory and their daughter Lauren to the group. Yes, Running Dad! I cannot tell you how excited I am to welcome a Dad to the group. I know full well that we likely won't have a tonne of Dads running with us, but I hope we will have a few here and there; it adds a great dynamic and personally I just love to see families running together. 


Of course I can't write that without acknowledging that Adrianne's husband Andy and Christy's husband Brad have both run in races with their wives and kids, but this is the first time a Dad has come out on a group run. Stoked!

Today's 12.5km run took us around 1 hour and 15 minutes (not including breaks). The group stayed together very well and only really started to spread out in the last four or five kilometres. This bodes very well for future runs because it tells me that as long as we keep the pace easy and steady (long, slow distance), we will all be able to run at very similar speeds and it will keep group confidence high. 


Although I know for a fact that as long as everyone stays focused and applies themselves to their workouts, long runs and recovery runs, the overall group pace will increase as the clinic progresses. ...and no one will notice until we point it out. 


I love it when that happens. Onward!