ECHO meets every Saturday morning at 7am at the Parkside Christian Church at 6986 Salem Road in Anderson Township, about a mile from my house.  Anyone is welcome to join us, any week.  No membership, no dues, just a bunch of friends who like to run.  Some of those ECHO friends are exceptionally accomplished runners (Boston Marathoners, Ironman Triathletes), but others are recreational.  They’ve been most welcoming for a rookie like me.

The ECHO bunch runs a 6-mile route every week.  Most weeks it’s this course, which is nearly flat.

The ECHO pace is usually 8:30-8:45 per mile, though there are some who go faster and some who’ll go slower.  I keep up, but the 8:30 pace is at the fast-end of my comfort level.  I’ll get faster.

Day 2 – January 2 – 7am – Anderson Township – 6 miles in 51:28, an 8:34/mile pace.  Good run.  My coldest run ever: temperature 15 degrees with a wind-chill near 0.  Light snow flurries that occasionally hit your face.  I wore a yellow Nike hoodie and a skull cap, with a long-sleeve shirt and long running pants.   I was warm enough everywhere, except for my hands.  I wore the gloves that I bought the day before the Columbus Half back in October.  The gloves are perfect for 25 degrees, but I found them wholly unacceptable for 15 degrees.  My hands froze for 3 miles until I retreated my hands back into my hoodie sleeves for extra warmth. 

The amazing thing about ECHO – there were 15 runners joining today’s run, even in such cold weather.  An ECHO bonus: after each run the group reconvenes at Big Apple Bagles, at Salem and Beechmont, for a post-race bagel.

My only regret – I wish I had brought a camera to capture the essence of running in frozen weather.

The Flying Pig Marathon is Cincinnati’s marathon, and this year I’m running. I hope.  The training starts now.  The race is Sunday May 2, which means there’s 120 days from now til then.  That’s 17 weeks, perfect time to start ramping up my runs, my mileage and my speed.

I’ve got my MapMyRun training plan all set.  All it takes now is 1) good health and 2) willpower, and it sure would be nice to have some 3) warmer weather.   I’ll post short updates here as I go along.

Day 1 – January 1 – 3pm – Anderson Township – 3 miles in and around the neighborhood, a very slow 9:30 pace for no apparent reason, temperatures in the mid-20’s with no wind.   I chose a shorter route because I knew I had a 6-miler with the ECHO Running Club early the next morning.