Run Club...Fun Club??

I run by myself. All the time. Training runs, races, whatever. Mostly because I can choose to go out when I wish and finish when I wish, but also because I don't have friends around who are runners.

When I signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon last month, I realized that this was going to have to change, especially if I wanted to do well in the race. I couldn't see doing 20+ mile training runs by myself. 3 1/2 hours on the W&OD Trail by myself on a Sunday morning in August wasn't going to be fun. So I've been looking around for running groups.

I looked at the Reston Runners club, but it appears that they have some kind of sadistic person creating their long run routes, since it appears that all of their 10 milers are extremely hilly. I run Reston's hills every day of the week; I want a bit of a break. But I also noticed, through the power of Twitter, something on a local runner's feed called, simply #runclub. I messaged Jessica and asked her about the club, and she told me to come on out - they meet at Reston Pilates at 8:30 each Sunday morning (approximately the time I run), start out with 15-20 minutes of mat Pilates, then they all go out to the W&OD for a run. Sounds like fun, right?

Except for the fact that I've never attempted Pilates, and was wary of it. Not so much that it was hard, but that I would embarrass myself with my lack of flexibility.

But last week, as I was attending a Tee Ball meeting (I'm coaching my son's team), I found out that another coach is Jessica's husband. We got to talking, and he convinced me to give it a try. So yesterday, I ventured out for my first #runclub.

And it wasn't that bad (the Pilates, that is). As a matter of fact, it was difficult, but I got warmed up better yesterday than I usually do. Luckily, the group was small so I didn't feel so self-conscious. But the run was fantastic; the chats made the run go by so much quicker.

But I am sore today - Pilates really works your core, and although it is difficult, it's not as difficult as I expected. So yeah, I'm going back to #runclub again on the 15th.

Sometimes, you just have to give it a try.