With Two Oceans just around the corner, I’ve woken up to the fact that sooner or later, I need to up my mileage. Weekends are fine. I’m currently running a Parkrun (5km) on Saturday and 10km on Saturday with Tamryn, with plans to up this distance to 15kms soon. But somehow, I’m just not getting to running during the weekdays.

My training program is stuck behind me in my office and haunts me daily! It’s not a difficult program either. Run 30 mins one day, do some hill training the next.

I have no excuse. I work from home, I don’t deal with traffic, my time is my own. It’s a combination of a lack of commitment and zero motivation. I talk myself out of it almost every single time. I thought to myself that if running with others on the weekends was the magic trick, maybe I should look for running groups in the week too?

I’d seen the Catch me if you can (CMIYC) running updates shared on various social media platforms and even more updates since my friend Tanya signed up as a CMIYC Leader in her neighborhood. I was still skeptical so I messaged her and asked what the deal was.

Knowing my pace (and all my insecurities), I felt I would be left behind and then run on my own. I might as well then run at home then, right? I also felt bad that I would be holding other runners up if they had to wait for me. Her answer: Just go! Go try it, and then decide.

So off I went. I was so nervous. But excited too. We weren’t a big group and when the leader, Naomi, said we’d all stick together, I blurted out that I was slow, very slow. But she didn’t seem to take much notice and off we went with me sprinting that first kilometer! After a while, I realized that I didn’t need to.

We ran. We walked. We stopped to take photos. Those that needed to run off ahead did so but also ran back to fetch the slower runners at the back. Naomi divided her run equally between the faster runners in front, as well as scooping up those of us at the back. Effortlessly too!

Posing along the way

Obligatory running shoe pose

It was relaxed and fun and embodied everything CMIYC promises to be. Not once did I feel awkward or conscious of my pace. In fact, in between the running, the walking, the talking, the laughing and getting to know one another, (and all the stops for photographs of course), 5kms flew by so quickly. It’s also safer which is a huge plus.

Will I go again? For sure!