The time has come. I can't deny it any more. It's 'new year, new me' season, and I've vowed to get my sorry ass running in 2015, by hook or by crook. The Run Way is my journey, and it starts right here.
Anyone who remembers what I was like back in PE class will know that I am not a group sports kind of girl. When A-levels came around, I wasn't simply relishing free periods during the day, and the chance to wear our own clothes, but just mainly glad to just get away from having PE lessons I'd have to skive each and every week (soz, Miss Pordage). Despite always having to be Sporty in our Spice Girl re-enactments, I was a plastic active, and my (borrowed) Kappa tracksuit was purely for show. I was too busy lurking in the corners of the public tennis court with a discman listening to Soulwax, to involve myself in any kind of exertion involving a ball.
So when I received a flyer through the post this week inviting me (and every other local girl), to come to an open training session for Enfield Town FC Ladies, I wondered why I felt suddenly piqued. Although I have now become a certified lucky charm for my devoted husband's beloved Tottenham, bar one single winter in 1997 where I played in my school hockey team (because I secretly loved smashing willing opponents' shins with a stick), I have never so much as raised an eyebrow to getting involved with sports.
My adult sporting wear (outside of my new running garms) is a mish-mash of vintage nonsense, worn solely for egg'n'spoon races on hen dos and family sports days.Yet now, with my new agility and stamina (still slower than your average bear, I'm sure), I could suddenly imagine spending my Saturday mornings in a crop top and silky shorts running after a ball like an aged (and much rounder) Keira Knightley in Bend It Like Beckham.
While the positives of a bit of camaraderie and that injection of fun into losing weight and toning up is completely clear to me now, it just hadn't spoken to my younger self. Pluses such as achieving a 'netball bum' from doing sudden bursting sprints, having a focus to a 90 minute workout and possibly even developing some sort of limb-eye co-ordination at last, are all very tangible to the new me.
Of course, there's still a fear attached to taking up a new activity you're sure to be pants at - and that's doing so in the company of a whole group of strangers. So will I be able to conquer social and sporting anxiety combined? Or should I be starting up an office team in a bid to drag my friends into it with me? Or should I just stick to running the road? All I know is, that this week, I ran for a bus, and I not only out-paced it, but I wasn't even out of breath when I got on board. So something's definitely changing...