Can you keep a secret? Good. I have a secret, and I'm only going to tell you because I know you won't tell anyone else. You're just that kind of person.
So the secret is, I'm part of a Jog Club. You know, where you get together regularly with a group and jog together. Yeah. And it really just sorta happened. One day, I looked around and realized there were three others with me on my runs and it had become the usual thing. A jog club. We run nearly every other day together, meeting out in the neighborhood and taking the same road for our run.
The thing is though, I'm nervous for two of the guys. They slip away from their homes to meet me. Their families don't know about their jogs. They may not even know they're gone at all. Like I said, we meet out in the street. When we finish the run, they both slip wordlessly back down their separate driveways. So for their sake, I have to keep the Jog Club a secret. We don't discuss the jog club. We just jog.
I've introduced two of the members to you before.
There's Poppy. She's been my running partner from the start. She has the right body type for running and therefore keeps up a grueling pace. She's very inspiring though. When I've gone 7 miles, she has surely gone 10 for all of the zig-zagging back and forth, bush jumping, and running back to check on me that she does.
The second member of my crew is Stewart*. He lives across the street from us. He began joining us on runs early on, but lacked the physicality to keep up for a while. He would run for a mile and then disappear, showing up in front of his house later on. These days, his perseverance has paid off, though. He can run 7+ mile no problem, and sticks with us the whole way. I doubt his motivation is for health reasons, though. I think he's just trying to show off for Poppy. Nevertheless, he has trimmed up considerably, despite his natural stocky figure.
The third and newest member of our group is a dark, sturdy guy called Big Ed*. This guy lives down at the corner on our path out to the woods. Out of all of us, he's probably the most out of shape (and I include me in that group because my jowls and belly aren't nearly as saggy as his). He probably weighs 90-100 pounds. But he has great determination. Unlike, Stewart, Big Ed jumped right in without hesitation, going the same distance as the more seasoned runners on his first try. He tends to be more cautious than the other two, mostly sticking to the road and closer to me. He sweet personality shines through. I've never heard him complain once.
The fourth member, of course is me. I think I've somehow been elected president of this club, since it's always up to me to decide things-- like when meetings are held, how far we are running that day, what is an acceptable amount of time for sniffing butts, etc.
It's always fun, but in the end, there's always that lingering question...Did anyone see us? Does anyone care? I'll tip my head forward in a nod with a quick salute, saying something like, "See ya, Stewart," as he trots home, giving me the shifty-eyed glance he's so famous for. And I know he won't tell his family.
Because we don't talk about the Jog Club. Because the first rule of Jog Club is: You don't talk about Jog Club.
*Some names have been changed to protect identities. (And possibly because we don't know their real names, so we just made something up. They could care less.)
"Honey! Send the kid down to the lobby to shine my shoes!" 
