Always one to be up-to-date with the latest trends, I find myself on the bandwagon that’s being occupied largely by Liberal Democrats in that I’ve just performed a huge U-turn. (That’s a little bit of British political humour for my confused overseas readers.) As you can probably guess from the post title, my six-lane, traffic-stopping U-turn has seen me become a fully signed-up member of a running club.

I’ve written a couple of times about how I don’t want to join a running club (here and here for example) and that, while I can see the benefit of them, I don’t think that they’d suit my personality. Well I might have been wrong.

It’s early days for me in this brave new world that I’ve entered, so I’ll update you with a fully considered verdict in a few weeks – but here’s my initial thoughts and reasons for the 180.

Mirror
Last month I ran a half-marathon with a friend who was quicker than me and he agreed to pace me to my target time. He had a problem with his leg half way through but looking round soon found someone from his local running club who was aiming for a similar time. After his friend agreed to let me tag on to him and look out for me, my friend dropped back. I’d never run a race with someone else before but these two really did help me to my PB. This got me thinking…

Signal
I plan to do another marathon, maybe not in the next few months or even next year, but I will do another. And I want to do it faster than I did my first – at least 31 minutes faster. That’s a big ask and I think I’ll need some help and advice. There’s a wealth of information and encouragement out there in books, magazines and online for runners, a lot of it informed my journey from the sofa to finishing my first marathon. In fact I binged on this information, consuming it wherever I could find it – and so it seems right that I embrace the traditional home of information and advice for runners, the running club. Sooo…

ManoeuvreLast week I went along, shook some hands and paid my subs. They’re a friendly, unscary bunch of people who like to run. I’ve been to a few sessions now and, much like my racing, I’m slap bang in the middle of the pack when it comes to pace. I quite like being here – the motivation of knowing that I’m not the slowest teamed with the drive of having someone in front of me to try and catch is definitely going to improve my speed. Watch this space for a whole host of new PBs in 2011!