I let the leaders get away from me about half way through the run, but finishing 7.5 miles on hills at an 8:48 pace ain't all that bad! Running with a group definitely does my pace some good.

Lately I find that my biggest issue with running is not the hills, motivation, injuries, or any of the usual complaints you hear from runners... my issue seems to be with the breathing part. A few months ago the heat, pollen and smog ganged up on my sinuses, making them expand and block passage of air through my nose. Now that the weather is cooling down, my sinuses are releasing everything they've been accumulating all summer long. A constant nasal drip during an hour-long run is more than annoying.

It's gotta be a sign of true love that MOB and I can easily move from the topic of home-improvements to snot-rockets without missing a beat. While demonstrating the proper form, he says a good blow will solve the problem but I just can't bring myself to let it all spray... especially now that I'm running with a group. Before I resort to that, I'm going to try my own solution which is to invest in a few handkerchiefs to take along with me.

My first run with the new half-marathon training group last Saturday was great. The intermediate group is pretty strong but I was only steps behind the leaders coming in from the 6 mile run out and back on Peachtree. The leaders in this group were probably averaging an 8:30 pace.

Everyone in the intermediate group seemed pretty friendly. The ATC's new executive director showed up to run with the beginner group, which I thought showed a lot of support. I did feel bad for the beginner group - it didn't look like they were sticking together as much as the intermediate group was.

Now that the evenings are starting to cool down, I went out to the Oakhurst Wednesday night running group. It felt great! I ran an 8:20 average pace for 5 miles on hills! (and I was still the second to last person in - this group is incredible.) A lot better than I was doing out there in July and August.

The half-marathon training calls for track workouts and tempo runs on alternating Wednesdays, so I'll get to run with the Oakhurst group for tempo one week and meet up with the ATC coach at the track the next.

I'm pretty excited about this plan. It calls for a lot more running than the previous 3-4 runs a week that I had done. The paces of both groups are pushing me but they are not out of reach. So far though (and it's only been a week) it feels great.

As if my blog addiction needed more fuel... active.com now offers a blog service. I'm playing around with it. I don't have any issues with blogspot, but I like the idea that I may automatically be connected with other runners through active... I've been a member of the CRN Running Blog Family for some time and have found a lot of good running blogs through them, but for some reason my entries never show up there even though I'm signed up. Maybe it's a problem with my feed, but it makes me feel lonely to read all these other running blogs and not really be a part of the gang. Active.com may not work out either, but I like having something geeky to play with.

Here's my first post on active.com's blog:

http://community.active.com/blogs/runningatlanta/2007/09/17/titles-are-required-huh

It's been a busy month, thus the lack of posting... that's my excuse anyway. My lack of posting of course would not have anything to do with my lack of running or doodling would it? No!

At first not having a specific race to train for or group to run with was uncomfortable and I was a bit whiny about it. I had gotten used to always having both. My enthusiasm suffered for about a month or so. But then something interesting happened... I continued to run on my own, when I could, about 3 times a week, with no real goals, sometimes without even wearing a watch, and usually only going between 3-6 miles, just the way I used to before I joined any groups or had any goals, and it started feeling good again. I actually feel stronger than before - I think the biking has been helping a lot.

So, I'm ready to step up the running again. I just signed up for the Atlanta Half Marathon training group - although I've already missed their first run and will miss their second as well. Off to a great start!

It will be good to have the discipline of a group again and meet other runners who are all training for the same race. Another nice thing will be that I don't have to pull out an excel sheet to figure out a training schedule - all the thinking will be done for me. Hopefully this group may carry over into training for the Georgia Marathon in March.

Within 5 minutes of signing up for that, I found that there is a 10K this Saturday that starts and ends a block away from my condo. How can I pass up running a 10K on my home turf? Although it's a 5k double loop, not my favorite kind of 10K, but whatever...