This evening, I went to my first running club event. We met near the river walk path. I figured that I wouldn't keep up with most of them, but didn't want to have them loop around without me. So I was very relieved when the host stayed back at all of the turn-offs to wait for me (and the woman behind me).
The running went well. The first mile, as always, made me regret going. But then I got in a groove, like I usually do. Jogging isn't as light and refreshing as it used to be, but that's probably because I weigh around 20 pounds heavier than I used to.
After running 2.6 miles (round trip), the group met up again near the parking lot. It took me 30 minutes, which is my normal time (3 miles on flat ground is taking me about 35 minutes at this point). Some runners were going to keep going the other way, so I said that I would walk behind them but that they had to make sure to find me and tell me when to turn around or I would just keep walking!
As they jogged away, I also started jogging, albeit slowly. I still had some energy left in me. I saw them take a side path, so I followed it, too. That's the last that I ever saw of them. I eventually hit the main path again, and took it back to the parking lot. That second run (with walking intervals) took another 35 minutes, and covered 2.3 miles (round trip).
As I was jogging, I got pretty angry at the other runners. As a woman, I don't want to be running alone on side paths but they didn't seem concerned about me once we started on the second run.
It reminded me of some hiking groups I have been a part of; they say that they are welcome to all levels, but end up leaving people behind. It's no fun to be left behind.
Plus, the sun was starting to set. That always makes me worried that I'll be running in the dark.
And I got blisters.
In sum, my first experience with this running club wasn't that great. Well, it started out really good, but then turned not-so-good. On the bright side, it wasn't too hard to do the 5 miles, not counting the blisters.
