Half Century for the PWR beginners group

This morning saw the first day of the weekly Petts Wood Runners Beginner Course. It welcomes all beginners with a goal of by the end of a 9 week programme they will all be able to run for at least 30minutes without stopping! Last year one of our beginners in September ended up joining our club and running in the London marathon in under 5 hours so a great place to start and build confidence.
Each week a couple of PWR members will go along to support the two coaches - Richard and Emma - and participate in the training and the drills. Today I was one of those members along with Sue from Group 1.
I decided to run from home as a warm up but having run under a mile there was a horn tooting at me, I spotted Emma and with no decision to be made I hopped in the car down to the meeting point (lazy!).
By the 9am start time the meeting area was packed with some keen, nervous, yet all friendly faces, 50 beginners came along this first week so hopefully bodes well for the upcoming sessions. The agenda was some warm ups, dynamic stretching following by 30minutes of walking for 5mins then running for 1min (and repeat). Chatting to several of the newcomers I wowed them with my running achievements(!) and how when I first started running I couldn't really run farther than the end of my road. 
It made me think about how far I  have come and what an inspiration being part of PWR has been. This coupled with the friends I have made, the people who have encouraged and challenged me over the last two and a half years, it really is amazing and for me it has kept me going so thank you to Petts Wood Runners, for welcoming me into the fold and supporting me every time I aim for a new goal.
I hope the new joiners get as much out of running as I do and that they stick with the course, running may not be for everyone but I think everyone one should give it a go just in case it is. I never thought I would enjoy it and now it is a major part of my life. (Now before you need a bucket I shall stop!)