Marathon Running Clinic

Soo this random thing turns up in my program called the 'Marathon Running Clinic' and I know nothing about it and was sposed to go forth and do it on Tuesday! Eek, nothing like not knowing what you are in for I spose. No further info provided, no link to a website, no nothing! If I had been thinking rather than reacting I would have Googled cos we all know that Google knows all! I sent a couple of texts to Richard digging for more info but he was being evasive and yes I told him that! I thought it might have been Karen's running group and while I know that would be good for me I don't know that I am that keen to go, running is something I seem to prefer doing on my own. Well, the Marathon Clinic isn't exactly a solo thing either just so you know and I did dig my toes in and resisted with all my strength but Richard has a way of convincing you that it will be worthwhile so I agreed that I would turn up on Tuesday but if I didn't like it I wasn't going back and there would be nothing he could do to change my mind! Well, of course it was fun, bloody hard work but fun! Tuesdays they do a hill run and run for about 12ish kms. The hills are mean, lets face it tho any hills in ChCh are gonna be mean cos thats the only kind we have! Everyone there was real nice, someone on the committee saw me looking a little lost and introduced herself and introduced me to the other committee members which was nice and they asked what my 10km time was and assured me I would keep up, that made me feel a little better but I was a tad worried as I don't really know the roads around that area. I kept up ok till we headed uphill then I found it pretty hard going, so a bit of walk/run on the hills and I dropped off the back. Uhoh, it was dark and I had no idea where I was, so I kinda just followed my nose cos I knew we had to head down Hackthorne and then up to the steps behind Coffee Culture so I headed off that way and joined on a group of people running back from the steps. Ran with an older guy for the rest of the run, he was lovely and introduced himself and chatted away, when we got to the next hill which was an absolute gut-buster he promised he would wait for me at the top, I managed to pretty much keep up but mainly only cos I have long legs and can stride it out when I am walking and believe me I still wanted to puke at the top of that one! After a wee pause to catch our breath we headed off to run down Dyers, at the corner one of the committee members was there waiting to check that I hadn't dropped off or anything which was cool. Had to run through a cemetery on the way back so was pleased I wasn't on my own for that part! So the ultimate question.....will I be back? Richard texted me to ask that question, it was my turn to be evasive this time so after teasing him for a little about it being the worst experience ever, I let him off the hook and told him that it was heaps of fun and I would be back cos I definitely pushed myself a lot harder than if I had been on my own and that was the point of the whole exercise! It's not even super-expensive at about $50 for a 12 month membership and they do up to 4 club runs a week so thats quite cool if I want company for some longer runs. I have decided that I definitely do run better/harder when running with others, I normally run on my own but this week have managed to run with Nadia, the running club, Tania from work when we were in Welly and have run twice with the dog - hmmmm less pressure running with the dog.