All right...great group

Today was my first day with Karen's group.  I had my worst night's sleep in a long time last night and my left heel was aching all night - problem solved with 1 Aleve and 1/2 a Vicodin (sorry Mike - I'm keeping the foot details to a minimum).  Went to have ART done to my foot - felt great afterwards.

Decided I needed to experiment with eating before a weekday quality group so I took a risk and had a bowl of cereal at around 4:15pm.  Finished my NUUN liter, did some TP massage on my calves and headed out.  Wasn't sure how long it would take me to get to NW Park but surprisingly it took less time and aggravation than to get to Rogue.  Things are looking up.  Did some stretches while I waited for the rest of the group to arrive - seemed like most of the Team people had done their workout in the AM (Karen gives everyone a choice) but there were a few of them there and one other guy for the Austin Marathon workout.  Lucky for me, his goal time is similar to mine.  Tonight's workout was pretty tame but a good one to start with - 1 mile warm up, 4 miles of 2 min (HMGP-MGP) and 2 min recovery.  We mostly ran between 15K and HMGP (7:04-7:14) and recovered at about 8:30 pace.  It felt comfortable.  Stretching and core work when we were done.

Broke a Meredith rule and am chowing down on a bowl of pasta and veggie marinara sauce at 9:30pm.  Guess I'll have to stay up for a few hours.  Tomorrow is a day off, so I'm sleeping in.

The cereal worked well as a pre run meal - didn't bother my stomach at all and I had lots of energy.

I really like Karen - she seems very dedicated to her coaching job - had some biomechanical tips for me and the group seems happy and to be enjoying themselves.  It must be hard to have people joining them who have fresh legs from slacking all summer.