My running club IS awesome. I’m not sure where you live, but if you live in any of these cities, you should definitely check out a Galloway group! You can go to the first run for free and just sign a waiver to try it out before you sign up.

But that’s the lens I view all of my experiences with sports through; I didn’t expect to be any good, because I was fat, so usually I didn’t try. My brother and I were encouraged to run as kids, but I remember it being specifically for “exercise” i.e. weight loss, not to get fast or build endurance or just enjoy running for its own sake.

I was also bookish and shy anyway, so to some extent I think people can be excused for believing that was the only box I could be put in. But I certainly think my weight played into why my parents in particular wouldn’t have encouraged me to go out for sports.

Your running club sounds great! I’ve been wary of trying to join one, because I assumed it would be too competitive and in general I don’t like meeting new people all that much (hmm… could be I’m a little set in my ways), but maybe it’s time to look into it again.

Also, off-topic, my parents moved the summer before my junior year (to a different state), and it SUCKED. I’d lived in my hometown since I was 3 and had a small group of very close friends (many of whom I am still close with to this day) that I had to leave behind in a time when email and webcams and stuff didn’t exist and long-distance was expensive. I imagine many people who had this experience are much better-adjusted than me, but I still dislike having had to go through such a jarring change, and when people ask me if I didn’t just love living in the new state (which is supposed to be a priori “better” because the climate is warmer) it sticks in my throat to even make a positive response. Was it a perfectly good place? Sure. But I still hated it. Yeah, I kind of fear change.