Thanks Dave, SE and FirstTimer,
Yes, I guess I just hope to be thick-skinned enough to not worry about what other people will think of me. No camera photos for me though, as no immediate family support is available at the moment. My husband is away in the US, so I'm on my own.
FirstTimer, I'm the wrong person to ask about how one gets to be faster. I tried improving speed November/December last year. And then realised that I was pushing my body too hard. That's when I first started to develop a small injury, and I suddenly also found that I was getting slower rather than faster. My body was simply too tired from the previous session. So I decided to not worry about speed, but rather concentrate on building up distance instead. My current target is that I must be able to run 8 miles before I again attempt to improve my speed. and when I get to that stage, I'm going to try fartlekking on lampposts (that is alternating my speed between lampposts). That seems to be the simplest approach. And since lampposts aren't that far apart, I think I should be able to achieve that.
And, if you listen to the advice of all the more experienced runners on this forum, they advise joining a running club, as that apparently tends to push you to run faster simply to keep up with other the club members.
Anyway, good luck with all your running too. There was such a sudden spate of new forum members from Plymouth joining our SE that it has been interesting to compare all your notes and follow your progress.