I'm not a runner. Am I?

I'm not a runner. Despite having spent these past eight weeks going to running classes and parkrun religiously, and despite having signed up for a half dozen events, and despite having been for a gait analysis and spending £70 on new trainers and socks, and despite the pain I now have in my soleus muscles almost continually from pushing myself each session, I'm not a runner.

I can't seem to wrap my head around the notion that because I can now run, that makes me a runner. After years of assuming that I couldn't run (either because of my asthma or because of my weight) it's proving difficult to get away from that mindset. So I can run a few miles, that doesn't make me a bona fide runner does it?

I can't help but think that if I refer to myself as a runner to anyone who perhaps doesn't know I've taken up running, that they'll look me up and down and laugh. I don't look like a runner. Runners are all slim and toned and have nice petite chests and runners tan lines, I'm still 2 stone overweight, have bits that wobble even under the tightest lycra, I'm so pale I'm practically see-through and my chest is on the brink of being given it's own postcode. I'm just not a runner.

Will my mindset change of it's own accord or will I have to keep drilling it into my head in order to believe it? I always felt such pride in calling myself a mountain biker even though I wasn't ever very good at it, but I feel almost embarrassed calling myself a runner. Not embarrassed because I think it's an embarrassing thing to do, far from it, it's just something which some people take so seriously and I fear I'll be criticised for only being able to run a few miles and only managing a 10 minute mile.

I must get my headspace sorted. I must accept that I can legitimately call myself a runner now, regardless of how far or fast I am able to run. This weekend marks Jane and I's first real stepping out - we go for a run by ourselves. No class, no instructor, no parkrun, just me and Jane chasing pavements.

So, we'll be running away from the safe bosom of our instructor or peers... Now THAT makes me a runner.

Today's motivational phrase: It doesn't matter whether it's a 7 minute mile or a 14 minute mile. A mile is still a mile.