Being brave

Well I did it!

I actually went and joined a running club tonight!

I'd been thinking about it for a couple of weeks and tonight was registration night for the beginner's programme, but I started to get cold feet and wasn't going to go.

Then I saw a post on the C25K forum by someone who had just joined a group and it made me think that I should just do it.

So in a very convoluted fashion I got Dot to message a school friend on facebook to give her mum my phone number and ask her if she would ring me as I knew she'd joined the group last year. Amazingly she rang just half an hour later and it turned out that she was still going along to the same group and was happy to give me a lift.

She said that I wouldn't be running tonight as it would just be registration for newbies but I thought I would go in my running clothes just in case and then I decided to run the mile to her house (I was fairly exhausted when I got there so I was a bit concerned that I shouldn't be joining a running group after all but it was slightly uphill and I never feel great in the first 10-15 minutes of a run)

When I got to the sports centre there were a group of people who had been members of the beginner's group for a while and then there were the new ones like me. I filled in my form and paid my subs and was going to ring my husband to come and pick me up but my friend asked the coach if I could go out with the regulars (I didn't discover until later, but she'd told him I could run 6k! I don't think she'd told him just how slowly I run!!)

So we did some warm ups which were good and then set off for a run round the streets before doing "bank training" up a moderately gentle hill. We probably covered about 2.5 miles but I'm sure I was going quite a bit faster than normal and as I'd already run the mile to my friend's house I didn't feel too bad when I slowed to a walk a couple of times.

I actually really enjoyed it and felt like I kept up most of the time so I'll definitely be going back next week. They weren't scary people at all - there were about 9 and they were all really nice.

Next week it will be back to proper beginner's level but I may be able to stick with the regulars if I can keep up!