Sunshine And Happiness!

Hello blog lovers.

It's Tuesday and its club night. And also week 2 of our beginners group.  The group has grown a bit bigger than last week, at least double the number! It's the sunshine you see, it just brings out that, wow, I got to get out in the gorgeous day and do something constructive!  So 20 or so beginners all looking as they are walking into the lions den as the hear that they are going to be jogging around for 2 mins and walking for 3.

After the drills and warm ups we walked around the field for the first of the three minutes.  My mate Tracy has decided to come along and see what all this jogging malarkey is all about.  I have been telling her about it for years, and I even managed to convince her to do a lap of Normans Park one particular year, but way back then I didn't know how to even begin to teach someone to get walking, let alone get jogging, and so it didn't work for her then. 

I am hoping this will show her that it is fun! And its free! And its healthy!  It's a fat burner, you meet the nicest of people, all pluses in my mind!  She really did seem to enjoy it, ok she came on week 2 but I told her what the homework was and she managed to do a least 2 days last week of  that.

Nagging sister and her her little attachment came too, JLo, she seems to be enjoying it, and is flying around the rec with her mother.  There was also another lady there, who missed out on the first week and she is struggling just a tad, but I feel sure she is going to get right into it and surprise her self at how well she does.

It seemed everybody is beginning to enjoy it, and you know they are working hard as well, because all of a sudden, little bits of them are complaining, Achilles hells, calf muscles and such things. You just know that it is going to hurt!

I had actually forgotten about the aches and pains.  Getting up in the mornings where you try to swing your legs out of bed and realise they don't actually want to move, because every time you do move them they hurt like hell!  I feel I need to do some more longer runs to get back to basics again! It's either that or push myself to go faster! Which with my Old girl body, well its just not built for speed!

Next it was our group runs.  Our Illustrious Leader was leading today, and she said "This evening we are going through the woods" and there was a big cheer from the group 1 ladies "Yeahhhhhh" which made everyone laugh!  But poor SingstarJo felt a tad rejected, well, she is still working on her girl guide badge for orienteering!

And todays run is going to be completely in the woods, no popping out crossing over roads and then popping back into the woods.  We were going in through 'Dog Poo' Ally (I know the name is unfortunate, but it  has stuck, even the leaders call it that) and then going straight up the hill first. Get that out of the way, and then right along the top, towards Goss Hill.  I guess I.L. could have had her evil hat on and taken us in the other direction, which some how seems a lot harder.  It must be the steepness of Goss hill that makes it look harder.

Then it was jog along by the little river, the Kidbrook, I think we decided it was called, and then turned right towards the railway lines.  This is a little upward section, but we all ran up it.  nearly back to the beginning now, just about another mile through the woods and its all over for another day.

It seems everyone was sticking to the safety brief, 'Keep a couple of feet away from the person in front, so that you can see the roots and things on the floor' And also the calls out for particularly high roots or obstacles that could be a trip hazard.  Now this is being part of a group, all working together, helping each other and encouraging each other as we jog along!  We may not be the fastest running group, but we sure do love what we are doing!

We popped out of 'Dog poo' Ally, and Illustrious Leader said that we could do the usual of running as fast or as slow as we wanted, to get back to the rec.  I was just making sure the last of the group are out of the ally, and started to put on a bit of a spurt to get to the rec when I noticed that I.L. had stopped outside PhysioMikes house.  She though she would do a bit of 'spin' and talk about the 'Open Garden' day on Sunday, where PhysioMike and his lovely wife and family, open his garden to raise funds for Harris Hospice.  A very worthy cause.

I.L. decided to change her mind slightly, and go in to the rec the other way, and for those that had a little bit of extra energy then they could run around the perimeter of the rec before stopping at the pavilion.  I had a little bit of energy, and being as I was almost at the front of the group as we entered the rec, I decided that I would do the loop of the green.  But it seemed as if everybody just followed us, there was not one that just went straight to the pavillion!

Great stuff!  There is no geeky stats today! I had forgotten to take my Garmin! Oh well, sometimes it's good just run 'naked' but not as naked as Spider!