A little help from friends

So, I joined a running club.  For those of you new to running, there are groups of individuals who meet regularly to run and figure out ways to run faster, harder and more efficiently.  Incredible, I know!  Why put yourself through that kind of torture?  For me, this is purely about survival, avoiding certain embarrassment and probable near collapse at my upcoming 10K race in May.   I have 30 days or so to come up with a plan.  I figured joining a group would force me to train.  Nothing else has worked thus far.  And my competitive spirit will push me through - kicking and screaming!  

The first meeting occurred last week.  And we finished off the evening with a timed one mile trial.  I finished at 12:00 running at 80% effort.  Yay!  So, my goals for the next few weeks are as follows:


1. Run 6 miles before my next race
2. Train 4 times a week
3. Strength training at least 2x/week
4. Run between 11:00 - 11:30 mile for my race.  


The last one may be a stretch as I have to concentrate on increasing my mileage.  I would really like to run a 10:00 min/mile.  So, goal #4 gets me closer to this milestone.  A girl's gotta dream, right?  But this is really asking a lot of my body in a 4 week period.  I'll write more soon on my training, nutrition and other fun things!