Many runners (myself included) tend to think that because we run, we don’t need to work out the rest of our bodies. But lately, I’ve been trying to break away from that myth in order to make myself a stronger runner — so I have been trying out the free classes at my gym. Now, as someone who started running because it doesn’t require any coordination, I’ll admit that aerobics classes make me anxious. But yesterday morning, a class called “Body Sculpting” sounded like something I could handle, so I trudged over to the gym after my coffee and oatmeal.

Almost immediately, we began doing fancy steps and fancy kicks and fancy punches. And just like a sitcom episode, I was the one person in the class punching left when everyone else was kicking right, jumping when everyone else was stepping, and just generally trying not to trip over myself. My fight-or-flight instinct was definitely shouting, “Leave! Go now!” Like a genius, I had positioned myself in the front of the room, next to the teacher, so there was no escaping.

So I stuck it out through the whole hour, it eventually became a little less embarrassing, and I worked out muscles I never knew I had. But today I’ve gotten to know them quite well, because they are screaming, “What have you done?!” I’ve told them that the more they do this, the more they’ll love it — that they’ll enjoy my runs even more. I’m not sure if they’re totally convinced yet, but I sure am.