I'm amazed by the camaraderie I've encountered

Maybe it was my childhood "trauma" of being the last one picked in gym class, not being athletically gifted (and catching grief for it), or being a "late bloomer" to fitness that I thought that I would be isolated in this journey but I have found the reverse to be true.

When I started running, I did it exclusively on the treadmill because I was self-conscious over the extra weight I was carrying. I trained for a 5K and my first 10K on the treadmill and it seemed to work for me but when I started training for a half-marathon, I had to bite the bullet and start running outside.

Until recently, a considerable portion of my running was done in the park or on a trail because I was hesitant to run on the street (once again, self-consciousness was taking control). I was amazed at the friendliness of the folks I encountered. A number of people will wave, say "hi" or "how are you doing," but some may actually initiate dialog to ask how far you're running today or if you're training for a particular race.

When I started going on the race circuit, I was intimidated by being surrounded by numerous runners who were a hell of a lot faster than me. When I go to the NYRR events, my corral corresponds with my best registered pace and I am surrounded by folks who run a pace comparable to mine. I've met a runners who were committed to running and overcoming challenges but yet we've joked about "how slow" we are and would check on each other during the course of the race to see how we're progressing.

I just moved to a new neighborhood and it's a bit of a burden to go to the places where I've run so I have been exploring the area while logging the miles. It turns out I was my biggest critic in terms of how I looked when running; as far as "everybody else," they don't care.