The first thing I noticed about the new marathon group was that it was not one group.
The signup form for Prospect Park Track Club's 2019 Marathon Training Group appeared in Drive over Memorial Day weekend. Another captain shared the questionnaire with me and asked for edits before it went out to the club.
By May 28, I was logged into the coaching platform and could see the responses. My immediate review was simple: there was a lot of variance in overall time and experience.
Good. That would keep it interesting.
I had already used the platform to coach a few people. I had also been coached by several different coaches over the years. The other captain had his own experience. We knew enough to get started.
The signup list made the actual job obvious. We could bring everyone into one program, but we could not pretend everyone needed the same thing. The plan had to leave room for where people were starting.
That morning I took a photo at a separate track workout. Eight runners tried to jump at the same time. Some went straight up. Some went sideways. One person appears to be leaving the frame entirely.
It was not the marathon group's first workout. It was just a decent picture of running with other people.
Signups opened to the club on June 3. I replied that I was PUMPED to be part of it. I wanted people to be prepared, have fun training, and finish with a race they would remember positively.
We had not announced the format or timeline yet. That did not stop me from saying marathon training with us might be the most amazing thing people did that summer.
Then I called it a party.
The questionnaire was live. The responses were coming in. The long runs were next.