The strangest coincidences happen sometimes.

So today I decided to do a Park Run. They happen all over the place, and it’s a 5k run that’s organised by volunteers, and not really competitive but you get to run with other people and get a sort-of-official time on a website afterwards. I’ve always been a bit nervous to do one before, but I needn’t have been. Obviously there were some really fast people there, but there were a lot who were (even) slower than me, and some walked part of it, so basically I should have done one a year ago.

Anyway, I crossed the line and got my barcode scanned, because that’s how they give you a time, and whose voice did I hear but Mel’s asking me what I was doing there. I mean, it was pretty obvious what I was doing there, but I knew what she meant because I don’t really look like a runner, and I’ve probably never mentioned it to her, since I don’t mention it to many people.

Mel had finished a few minutes before me, and to say that I felt fat standing beside her in her tight running leggings and top was an understatement, because she’s both a few inches taller than me and more than a few inches slimmer. Just imagine what a Kenyan athlete looks like, and then imagine if that athlete was also a model, and you’re in the right area. Plus somehow she looked healthy and bouncy and her frizzy hair was tightly and neatly tied up and I felt like a dripping sweatball with streaks of mostly blond hair plastered across my forehead.

Well, it turns out that Mel only lives five minutes away, and we’d never talked about it before. She comes to those park runs all the time and I said I was put off by how slow I was she reminded me of how she used to be a fitness coach so she could give me some tips. Off-hand I said that would be great, and now I’ve volunteered myself to meet her at the park after work on Tuesday for some running and I’m kind of scared at how unfit I am.

Well, we’ll see what happens.

And we’ll also see what happens later with Susan and the ex-colleagues!