Pacers Pacers

About a month ago I popped into Pacers Princeton while I was in Downtown Princeton. After noticing this sign in the window I asked about their weekly runs. I was assured all paces are welcome, AND that they have people even slower than I am who regularly attend. I've also thought about going to the morning Run Around Princeton (RAP) runs, but let's face it I am not up for running at 5:45 AM or even 6:30 AM. Those people are dedicated!

Princeton Pacers meets two evenings a week. I had nothing to do last night, so I decided to give them a try. The New Jersey Marathon was the weekend before, so attendance was light. The runs almost always include someone from the store to lead the pack, this week was an exception. The store employee did introduce me to Candace and her husband (whose name I did not catch). Candace said she is an 11 minute miler. Perfect! So am I! (Mine vary from 10:45 to 11:15 lately, no idea why there is that much swing.) Her husband is even slower and will lag behind.

Okay! Let's roll! 

Mile 1: 10:10 pace. Um, what happened to being an 11 minute miler? I usually run intervals, I couldn't do that and keep them in sight.

Mile 2: 10:24 pace. By the end of the second mile I decided I needed a walk interval. By now we were on Alexander Road and I knew my way back to the store.

Mile 3: 12 minute pace. Okay, I walked (um, crawled) up most of Alexander Road. The happy couple paused from time to time to make sure I wasn't lost. As I caught up to them they said hello and were off again (okay, they asked if I was okay).

Mile 3.4: All done! 10:58 overall pace. I think I picked up speed in that last 4/10 mile.

Overall consensus: it was nice running with a group. The slower people were kind. The fast people blew me off. However, not worth the extra hour of driving to and from Princeton and dealing with parking. On the other hand, maybe I'll join them for a tow path run when I can wave to the fast runners as they pass me by.

Next day: sore legs, which never happens to me when I take it easy in my neighborhood. Maybe there is something to this non-interval running after all.

Me after a run in my neighborhood