In the saddle? Check!

Yesterday! Yesterday was my first day of group practice! I know, two weeks in, and yesterday was merely my first? Yes, yes. The first week I was in San Francisco for Yelp training, and I simultaneously had the flu. And then a cough. And just when I thought I was in the clear, I got food poisoning! Oh, what a lucky few weeks it's been for my health.

But all that is in the past now! I'm running with the team, finally! We did some endurance and stamina exercises at Memorial Park yesterday evening, and I hooked up with some of my fellow Anchorage marathoners - Corina, Maria, and Sima. Nice to know we'll be together for the ride until June. Anyway, in total, I think we ran 2-3 miles, which is good. I didn't feel like dying, which is a great start, although I did take a few walking paces. What can I say? I won't pretend I'm not out of shape. All in all, I felt great, before, during, and after, and I made sure to eat a starchy meal beforehand and drink a lot of water. I actually felt it sloshing around in my stomach during the run (which is the only thing that brought me any sort of discomfort), but my coach said that my body will learn how to use all the water I'm putting into it, so I shouldn't be concerned in the least.

And today, I still feel good. I'm a little sore in the bum and strangely tender in the ankles. This weekend - or perhaps Friday, actually - I'm going to secure my running shoes because for some reason, I think ankle support has become an issue. And I want to nip that in the bud before it creates further problems.

This week is going to be nuts in terms of work, with my first Elite event coming up and all, so I hope I can shuffle things around and make sure to get in at least three running sessions before group training on Saturday. Four miles! It's going to hurt, I'm sure. Mind over matter; I can do it.