W9R1 - Running away from a running group (oh, the irony!)

[psychicmodjo]

My graduation week is finally underway and I've survived the first of the 3 runs (yay!).

I started out well, and actually thought to myself "I feel/look like a runner" although that feeling lasted all of 2 or 3 minutes when I realised I'd started a bit too fast and promptly got a stitch and had to slow down to my usual snail pace. The gremlins decided this was the perfect time to come out from hiding and remind me that I couldn't possibly complete the run as I had a stitch. I decided to just keep going and see how far I got and after 5 minutes the stitch subsided and the gremlins were well and truly silenced. Result: Gemma 1 - 0 Gremlins

After about 20 minutes, I suddenly spot a group of about 30 runners in a group coming right for me. I felt so intimidated that I promptly crossed the road and ran down an alley to get away, so that I didn't have to pass them. I don't know what I was so worried about... I think I was just thinking "oh my god there's so many of them and they all look like pros" and I just felt really silly and pathetic in comparison. But the important thing is, I kept going (albeit down some quiet side roads) and got to the end of the 30 minutes.

When I got home and elatedly told my partner I'd completed the run, he asked if I'd enjoyed it, to which my response was "enjoy is a strong word, but I DID it!"

On a sidenote - A bit of googling has since told me that the runners were part of the Ealing Eagles running club. And their website suggests they are much more friendly and less intimidating that my brain assumed they were!

2 runs to go!

[Hidden]

Running as training is a new concept for me. I'm much more familiar with my more established recreational activities of cycling and martial arts. In those two,and I have no doubt it's the same in running, there are always people further on than you, and always people just starting out. But always, there is a lot of support and encouragement from everybody at all levels.

Very, very occasionally you'll encounter a bad egg. Someone who looks down on people who are less experienced or less well equipped. Such people can be ignored. Much more abundant are those that love what they do enough to be genuinely pleased when they see someone else just starting out.

[Maddee_6333 Graduate]

You conquered the gremlin! Hooray.

And you're in the home run (so to speak) of the program. Go you!

Maybe it's a running club you could join?

[Bluebirdrunner Graduate]

Go you...😊

YOU are a proper runner...

2 more til graduation...😊

[Greenback-Boogie]

Thank you for making me laugh.

[Hidden]

Haha I started running in a very quiet area to avoid seeing people as I puffed and panted my way through the early runs but away for work in a city the other day I ran in a park and saw lots of "proper runners". It was only when I got back to the hotel that I realised I didn't feel self conscious at all. In fact I felt one of them! Running 30 minutes at a time? Blimey, You are a runner!

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

They probably would have looked at you and thought, "Wow, a real runner, who can do it on her own!!"

Of course you are a runner. Try parkrun, then you will realise that runners come in all ages, shapes and sizes and are generally incredibly supportive of others in the running community.

Keep running, keep smiling.

[skysue16 Graduate]

Well done! I like the way you dealt with that gremlin - shut it up good and proper 30 minutes of running - you are right to feel pleased with that!