Looking for fitness buddies (Help! Im a newbie)

I considered myself to be an absolute fitness newbie last April, and now I'd consider myself a slightly less new newbie! I don't know about other folks but what worked for me was lost of experimenting in the beginning. I started doing bodyweight workouts at home but didn't really like that, so I decided to do C25K and although I originally hated running, I learned to love that!

I ran 3-4x a week from April through to November, and ran a 5K then 10K (Aug and Nov). It was really helpful to set those goals for myself to stay motivated. As I was experiencing some tension in my hips/legs I started doing yoga on the alternative days to my runs (but when I say yoga I mean deep stretching yoga without the heavy breathing and the "opening your heart" stuff).

Around November I decided I was going to add strength training into my goals but I had no idea where to start. So I thought I'd start with a personal trainer - this was a big mistake because I had no base and had not done any of my own research. I ditched the trainer after they had been a bit flakey and that was my best decision!

I've been doing a lot of research on what kind of lifting plan would work for me and ultimately I was considering to do the StrongLifts 5x5 but the compound movements with the bars intimidate me. So I decided to start with the M&S Dumbbell Full Body Routine - I can use weights lighter than the bar to work on my form (i.e. for a squat) while still building muscle. My goal is to do this for 8 weeks and work my way to the Stronglifts 5x5!

Anyway, just my two cents
Let me know how you find the M&S routine if you give it a try!