TNT, the first GTS

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to head north on Roswell to join the sea of purple for my first Group Training Session (GTS) with Team in Training (TNT). In an earlier post, I let everyone know that I am running the Chicago marathon in October, and now that I have done my first group run, I know that the next 5 months of training will be so much more entertaining and meaningful than last year.

We started off the day with a longer coaches clinic, going over the basics of running, which can make us sound like crazy people and have those non-runners to question "why?" Runners all have their own story of why they keep going though. Some topics discussed:
- cotton is rotten
- chaffing
- body glide and vaseline
- peeing in the woods
- salt pills
- ice baths
- setting an alarm in the middle of the night to eat a bagel
- bloody nipples

Yes, they are crazy, a little off-kilter even, but surprisingly necessary to know about and be aware of when you are training for an endurance sport such as running 26.2 miles. After about an hour discussion, we headed out for the first run of 3 miles. This will eventually turn into days of logging 18 to 20, but today was just the first steps of the coming months.

I was able to meet some great people, hear a little bit about my team members as we jogged 2 abreast through neighborhoods, and got to eat a cheese bagel afterwards - I LOVE carbs. We have a few less informal meet-ups throughout the week and I will be meeting with one member for lunch to discuss fundraising ideas. I hope this first run will set the precedence for the additional ones to come, and I am really looking forward to the next few months, raising money for Leukemia & Lymphoma, and forming friendships one mile at a time.

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