My parents have been on at me for years to join a running club.  In all honesty I’m not sure why it has taken me so long but tonight I bit the bullet & turned up for my first run with the Clapham Chasers!

As promised on their website, they were a friendly bunch and very welcoming.  There was a brief welcome chat to the Monday night ‘social’ run and we were offered a choice of 3 pace groups, Fast, Intermediate and Novice.  I decided to join the intermediate group.  The leader was adamant that he would be sticking to a strict 8 minute mile pace and no one was to run faster than him, perfect.  Anyone that wanted to run faster should go with the fast group, I didn’t think that would be wise on my first session, especially a week after running a marathon, 8 minute miles would do just nicely…

We set off on our run into Battersea Park; it’s a favourite and familiar running area of mine so I immediately felt at ease.  The pace, however, felt rather punchy for 8mm.  At first I wasn’t sure if it was my heavy post marathon legs that made it feel tougher than expected but then I clocked our second mile at 7.32!   I was quite relieved we were running at a quicker pace rather than issues with my form.

We were running faster than I would on a solo training run but this was a pace I could keep up with and one that was going to make me a stronger runner.  By mile 2 of my first ever club run I knew this was the place for me, and I was going to enjoy it!

So, I am now a fully-fledged member of the Clapham Chasers and I can’t wait for next week’s track session!