I've started running in the evenings with a group of friends. This group includes a couple of Ironmen, superwoman (for real) and another woman who runs with me but is so fit she likes to chat as I struggle to gasp for air. They are a pretty no nonsense bunch so when we go for a run, it's a 10k minimum - no complaining.
I'd only run that far once in my life before running with them. It wasn't good. I didn't know that was how far we were going until we were stretching against the car trying to find the GPS signal on our Garmins. I think this was a good thing or I'd probably have found an excuse not to go.
It was off road, through the woods, on narrow paths and up and down the hills. So the gang reading this will probably scoff- "hills?! Pah that was a bump in the road!" It was not a bump. I want to stress this- I'm not a regular runner. Even 5k is quite a struggle. To be really honest, sometimes just running for the train is enough!
Running with friends is the way to go. Yes, they are better than me. Yes, they can go for longer than me. Yes, they like to laugh at my girlie distaste for getting muddy and dirty. But they are my friends- I know they aren't going to laugh at me for being rubbish nor do they want me to fail. When they aren't chuckling at my tip toe run around the puddles and mud, they have a lot of helpful tips and tricks. If I didn't go with them I probably wouldn't go as far nor would I push myself to keep going when I felt like giving up.
Now for the not so fun part, to clean my shoes and dirty clothes...
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