I joined a running group!

I joined a running group today and it was great! Aside from being weak from exhaustion, I am bubbling over with excitement over how good it was!

I very nearly didn't make it this afternoon either. One part of being on holidays that I love it nanna naps in the afternoon. Not that I had particularly exhausted myself today, but I found myself lying on the couch this afternoon and managed to doze off. Anyway, when I woke up and looked at the time, it was exactly when I should have left to meet this running group for the first time. So after a very hasty change of clothes and grabbing my bodyglide and a bottle of water, I raced out the door and was on my way. The whole way there I was balancing looking at my speedometer and the clock, hoping to make it on time!

Anyway I finally made it, and was only a few minutes late. As I parked the car, I had a brief moment where I tried to convince myself that I was too late, and should probably just turn around and head home (symptoms of me trying to chicken out), but after a 45 minute drive I figured I'd give it a go.

The warm up was a barefoot run, which I had never done before and had always wanted to try. The good thing was that I didn't have to change my running style to go barefoot, which I guess means that my style is ok to begin with. After a few drills the main part of the session was basically running 5 km, which was broken into km sections where we had to aim to go 10 seconds faster or slower than previous splits, with the aim of getting better at pacing. Because I was the second slowest runner there, I only had a few seconds rest in between each of the km sections too!

The best thing about the whole session was that I RAN ALL 5 KM!!! I guess the Couch to 5km plan is out the window now... As I said before, I was slow, but man I'm proud of myself!

This particular running group meets a couple of times a week - and I'm going to try and make it there as much as I can. That will be much easier during the holidays - during term time (I'm a teacher) I think I will struggle. That's partly because it could take me up to an hour to get there because of the traffic, plus with my mortgage and interest rates rising the money it will cost me to go twice a week might be pushing the limits of my bank account.

Anyway, I am very pleased with myself tonight and am going to take a well earned rest day tomorrow!