What the...? Explaining Our Transitional Schedule...

I'm sorry if I was baffled by all the "What? When? Huh?" regarding our schedule last night. Looking at the schedule, there's a little reason for confusion.

Ideally, I would have started the beginners' group a couple of weeks earlier. Nevertheless, yesterday's workout pretty well demonstrated that everyone is pretty much where they need to be for the training they want to be in. I don't know how many of you did the math, but you ran three miles yesterday, the middle mile and a half consisting of speedwork, at that! Congratulations!

For the half marathoners, the structure of the early weeks of the training programs will be a little different for us, because everyone's been running. So, rather than starting from scratch this weekend, I'm working the schedule out as a continuation of the progress you've already made.

So, here's the breakdown:

• Half marathoners will meet on Tuesday nights at 6:30pm, and Saturday mornings at 7am.
• Marathoners will meet on Wednesday nights at 6:30pm, and Saturday mornings at 7am.
• The beginners, who I think I'll call "The Upstarts", will train with the half marathoners on Tuesdays at 6:30pm, and with everyone on Saturday mornings at 7am, but with modified workouts and lower-mileage schedules. I have no doubt that some of you will be able to transition into the half marathon program. We'll just keep tabs as we go.

Obviously, the half marathon/marathon runners have a goal race in February. The Upstarts are welcome to run with us for as long as they like. If you get to a point where you're running what the half marathoners are, I'll expect you to run the damned half marathon, and to pay what the other half marathoners have paid ($150). Otherwise, you'll be required to buy a shirt, pay $50 and/or help support the half marathoners and marathoners on a long run or two.

For everyone, the cost is $150, and again, your participation and commitment are more important to me than the money. If you need to, you can pay the fee out over a period of time. I don't want to do that with everyone, because it makes it too easy for people to bail out on their training, and it'll reduce the funds available to buy all the shirts, and fund things for the group. No, it doesn't have anything to do with my desire for a Mini Cooper or an XBox 360 coinciding with the release of Halo 3 later this month. My day job will pay for those things at some point.

I also will be encouraging you to do some external good with your running, by raising money for a cause. We'll be talking about some options and how to go about it in the next few weeks.

Any questions? This blog is far too quiet. Make some noise!