Tedy’s Team Group Run – 6 Miles

12 degrees. 16 degrees. 17 degrees. Freakin' cold. All temperatures I saw forecasted for the first Tedy's Team group run of the 2014 Boston Marathon training season.

Ummm ... Yay?

I know I know. I live in Boston. I do this to myself. Yes I know that, but I like to delay the cold weather for as long as possible.

Every charity team conducts their training runs differently.

Tedy's Team has an amazing coach, John Furey, who helps with the long group runs on Saturday morning and also offers any running advice we need. Let me tell you this guy was a HUGE help to me when I saw him at Mile 20 of the Boston Marathon in April and experiencing immense right heel pain. If I didn't see him at Mile 20, get a pep talk and some swedish fish, I'm not sure how the last 10k of the race would have gone.

This year our group runs would start at Joint Ventures Physical Therapy and Fitness in Kenmore Square. It is a great deal since they have an area for us to store gear, a place to stretch, foam rollers to borrow and a place to call base camp after the run. The one benefit of moving where the group runs are being held is the avoidance of the hill on Beacon St. This was only a .3-mile long hill, but it was brutal to see at the end of a 10-,12- or even 18-miler. Now we can avoid that. Yay! Tiny victory. :P

It was GREAT seeing everyone this morning - lots of hugs and smiles.

Special thanks to my teammate Meg and her husband Josh were able to give me a ride in since the T would've taken over an hour on a Saturday morning. We made sure to meet the group in time for the 8am kickoff.

Since I usually train alone, I look forward to these Saturday runs with folks that have become great friends over the last year.

The mileage options for today were 6, 8 or 10 miles and I opted for the 6, which was perfect for today. :)

Meg, Cristina, Nancy and I headed out and it was like no time had passed since our last group run together back in April. We fell right into conversation and it was awesome. Thankfully Facebook has kept us connected since the Marathon.

I was looking to keep the pace light and at Mile 1 my Garmin pinged - 9:00 on the money. Perfect. It was just what I wanted to see. At that point, I flipped the Garmin over so the face was on the inside of my arm and tuned it out.

This run was about the people and the experience.

It was great seeing so many other charity teams taking to the streets of Boston as well. Many familiar faces from the year before.

Having run with Tedy's Team last year, it was great being back on familiar territory. Like coming home.

As we ran, we all chatted about the holidays and the impending snow storm. You know the usual winter topics in New England.

Mile 2: 9:20. Fine by me. As we hit Mile 2, you hit a more pedestrian area with more stopping/starting with street lights. But again, not about pace.

We hit Coolidge Corner and Meg and I were back in stride. We had done a majority of the training runs together last year. She is a faster runner than I am so I enjoyed being pushed by her each week. Plus the conversations were always great.

Mile 3: 8:59. And the turnaround. We hit Coolidge Corner and were ready to make our way back to base camp. For only 1/2 a second I thought about pushing it to the 8 then decided 6 was good. I have another run tomorrow so it is okay. :)

When we turned around we hit a bit of a downhill, which was lovely. Also the turnaround gave a great time for high-fives and waves to other teammates. I love the running community and high-fives.

Tedy's Team is awesome enough to also have a water stop (or more depending on distance) during the run which you can hit multiple times on the down-and-back course we run. So I need to thank John (coach) and Margaret for hanging out there in the freezing weather. We heated up as we ran - they didn't while they stood there. So thanks guys! Can't wait to see you each week. :)

Mile 4: 8:24. Here is where the old groove came back. We got caught up in conversation about the Marathon Bombings and our experiences and the legs did what they wanted. Around this time we met up with our teammate Carly who joined us for the remainder of the run.

Talk of how frozen our body parts were became topic. I just kept thinking about how it will only get colder folks. ;)

Mile 5: 8:00. Hello downhill. You were a glorious addition to Mile 5. I was the only one wearing a Garmin in our group - hey I gotta keep this mileage total accurate - so I was letting the ladies know that we only had a mile left before we could be inside.

It was odd not having the large Beacon St Hill looming in front of us for the final bit of the run, but I can say I didn't miss it one bit. :P We ended up finishing with a final mile of 8:13.

Not too shabby at all. My foot was sore the whole time, but nothing unbearable. I was hoping for an average pace around 8:45 before getting to the run this morning and was happy with an 8:39. I enjoy running with more skilled runners than I am as it is the push I need. Also, it is easier to push yourself when running with people.

We didn't waste time getting indoors once the run ended. It is nice to have a place to stretch and foam roll after a run. And you can catch up with everyone else to see how their runs went. The great thing about group runs is the range of paces and mileage being OWNED.

I tried to get a sneaky pic of the room/group. I will get better about taking pics with teammates over the course of the season. I love sharing other people's stories about why they are taking part.

But, in the end, no matter your pace or mileage, we are all there for one reason: charity. Each person is helping to raise awareness for and to fight either Stroke or whatever other cause they are running for. That bonds people together.

Until next week's run...

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Week 1 Workouts:

Sunday, December 8: 55 min Zumba class and 3.9 mile run

Monday, December 9: 3 mile run and 47 min Spin class

Tuesday, December 10: 4 mile run

Wednesday, December 11: 5 mile run

Thursday, December 12: 2 mile run

Friday, December 13: 4 mile run

Saturday, December 14: 6 mile group run and gym date with a friend

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Looking To Donate

Are you interested in helping to fight Stroke? Please feel free to click on the link HERE to share a donation. Wondering how much? How about $6 in honor of the 6 miles I ran today with Tedy's Team?