I went running today around Mission Bay with a group organized by Road Runner Sports training for the California Cruisin' 10K. I always say I enjoy training alone, with the human contact on race day one of the added joys, but I did enjoy training with people. I ended up leading the way for the second half of the out-and-back course, which boosted my confidence but also made me feel bad, like I should have kept pace with the group. But I will do it again. Had I arranged to attend eight of these, my entry into the California Cruisin' 10K would have been free, but I won't be able to make eight, and already paid my entry fee, anyway. Besides, it's for a good cause. But I will attend a few more, if I'm able to; they provided refreshments afterwards (and as a plug by way of gratitude, the energy bars Road Runner puts out were pretty good), and the people were nice.

That said, I'll still be going solo for the bulk of my training. Especially the long run. I can't imagine having to keep pace with another runner over, say, ten miles. I like listening to my body, setting goals before I run but changing them if I have to, sometimes holding back, sometimes pushing myself harder. And I enjoy the solitude of the long run. But running with a group from time to time seems like a great addition to my workout reparte.