@mm1970 - how do the logistics of running groups work? I’m not familiar with them at all or how they work. Are people divided into groups by skill level, run at their own pace? Etc?
Depends on the group. In the last several years, I've used 3. Two of them paid with coaches, one just a casual group.
The casual group is the most recent. They meet Saturday mornings, at the same time and same place. There are all levels of runners, run/walkers, and walkers. So, after awhile you get to know who is your pace. So you get to run with people or not, depending.
The older group I did for several years was a women's running group, with a coach, and we did a combo of trails and roads. It was similar. You kind of self-select into paces. We are all doing this trail, go as far as you like and as fast as you like. THAT coach has recently teamed up with another running coach and is doing a training for a local 10 miler. But they run on Sundays, and I can't do Sundays. (Or I choose not to, it's my one day to reconnect with my bestie, and she can't run.)
The one I've been using the last two years, another paid group - the programs are mostly "train for X race", though in-between race programs she runs a track workout every Tuesday, for a monthly fee.
The track workouts are great, and they vary. So, one week we might start with 400's at a 5k pace and move on to 800s at a 10k pace. Obviously, the pace varies based on the person. It's been super helpful in allowing me to progress at my own pace, so to speak.
For the race training, you don't really get divided up. In addition to the track day, there's a second mid-week day. That day is usually 45 minutes of running. So, some days might be "tempo", some days might be hill repeats, etc. Everyone runs at their own pace, you just go out for 22.5 minutes and then turn around. The long runs are on Saturday, and that's similar. It might be "9 miles or 90 minutes, whichever comes first". So the 9 minute milers can get in 9 miles, and I can usually get in 8 - I just turn around at 45 minutes.
Of course, the hardest part for me in all these groups is that quite literally, nobody is my pace. And not even close. I was pretty speedy at the end of my last uphill half (I could pull a 10 min mile for a 10k). But otherwise - there's a group of runners in the 2 hour half marathon and under pace. There may be a few people just getting into running who are around a 13:00 mile (which was me a couple of years ago). But my half pace is around 10:45-11:15. It's not likely to get a whole lot better - I'm not likely ever to hit 9:00 miles, for example. So I run with a "group" but it still gets kind of lonely when you are out there for 1.5 - 3 hours by yourself.
So for the casual running group, about half the time I can run with others, because there are a bunch of run/walkers. I'm happy to slow down to their pace (I'm also a run/walker). And there are some runners who are happy to slow down to my pace. In a "we are training for a race" group, it's harder.