The Last Warm Run?

Tonight, I got out for the one hour recovery run. It was warmer than it's been in a while, but still way better than it was just a few weeks ago. Small favors, and all that...a couple of blasts of cold air are due any time now, so Saturday's run should be in ideal conditions. 7:30pm start time tonight. Some trail, some 'Hood, ended up with 6.5 miles, 1:00:32, 9:20/mile pace. Legs a little heavy feeling, but the run was just fine. Did 2x100m striders afterwards and several minutes of Gilbert's stepping and balancing drills, too. Nothing too exciting, really.

I did find myself pondering the relative differences between solo running and group running while I was out there tonight. I came to the conclusion that they both offer something to the runner, at least to me, but I can't say that I'm way more interested in one or the other. Solo runs are a good time to look inward, or to look nowhere at all, intellectually speaking, and letting the emotional and personal batteries recharge. Group runs, even with just one other runner, are more social, naturally, and even when they are hard speedwork, the presence of those other fellow runners makes the work go by more easily. It is very hard to do hard running by myself, now that I've grown so accustomed to training with the Gazelles. I could do moderately long runs by myself, and I've done speedy stuff while on vacation, out of necessity, but I greatly prefer the company of others when going long or fast. Recovery running is nice to do alone, because the pace lends itself to internal conversation. No, I don't hear voices... :-) Anyway, that's what I thought about tonight in the starlight, alone with my footsteps (and an iPod loaded with 1700 songs).