First run of 2008

Last year Arland, Kim and I made a date to run together on the first day of 2007. This year my first run of the year was with a group of Cabot Cruisers. I missed Arland (injured) & Kim (out of town) but I still had a great run today.
It was very cold this morning which it is winter so that is normal but the wind... sheesh it was howling!!
I started off with Joan, Jane, Bailey, Cheryl and Susan. Michele had also joined us but she was feeling speedy so she took off ahead and ended up running most of the route with Patty. Joan, Jane & I got a little ahead of the other girls, and I slowed down a bit to let them catch up. Bailey and I ended up running together, she can be very speedy but today wasn't about speed for her. We ran together for a bit and then turned around to circle back for Cheryl. Although we went back for Cheryl we didn't stay with her for long. We kept an eye on her though and it looked like she was running with Susan so I wasn't worried about her. At one point though Bailey looked back and didn't see Cheryl, I was worried then and thought maybe she had decided to turn around. Bailey and I eventually caught up with Jane and Joan and pretty much ran the remainder of the run with them. I kept thinking we would turn around and go back for Cheryl and Susan, but it was one hill after another and the thought of running any of them a second time was just too much for me!!
The route we ran was very hilly and with the wind it was at times just daunting!! We did have some nice stretches where the hills blocked the wind and we would be comfortable but they never seemed to last too long.
Just before we got to the last big hill on hwy 321 Michele who wasn't that far ahead of us turned turned back to run with us. That hill has a lot of history for us and it really made me happy that she wanted to run it with me :).
When we got back to the school we had 7.1 miles. I asked Michele if she wanted to walk a bit and head back up 321 to find Cheryl and Susan. At first we were jogging so I started my Garmin but then we had to wait for traffic to cross the street and then ended up in some grass which was hard to run on for some reason, so I gave up and turned off the Garmin. It's silly but I knew it would drag down my total avg pace for the run and I didn't want that. We didn't get very far on 321 when we saw Cheryl running towards us. We could also see in the distance Susan wasn't too far behind her so we all started towards Susan and the four of us jogged it back into the school. By the time we got back everyone was gone. The Razorbacks played in the Cotton Bowl this morning and everyone was anxious to get home and watch the game.
I asked all the girls if they wanted to go to Mountain Mudd, Susan couldn't go but Cheryl and Michele did so we loaded up in the Honda and got our reward for getting up early on New's Day and running in the cold and wind. Mountain Mudd has the best sugar free white chocolate, no one else compares ! Once we got back to the school we sat in the warm car and chatted a bit before everyone had to get home and get on with their day.
It felt great to start off the new year with a great run with great friends!
7.2 miles
10:35 avg.pace
1-10:33
2-9:48
3-10:36
4-10:44
5-10:51
6-10:36
7-10:05