Hello all, been lurking here a while and have got some good info from this place, and finally got to put some to use. Could use some pointers and overall feedback on the interaction. Overall I think it went well and my one area to improve on is expressing desire/attraction and escalating physically with confidence.

Little about me: 27/M, been single for my entire life, have gotten laid a few times, but only shitty one-night stands. Spent the last couple years really overhauling myself. Lifting, eating healthy, getting passionate about my interests, leading to overall confidence improvements and have been in a generally happy place because of all this. Really the only piece of my life I felt was missing was a woman to share it with.

How I met her: I was out disc golfing with my brother. I had a terrible throw and my disc ended up on the nearby running path, which she was currently walking through that area. She stopped and picked up my disc and initiated the conversation (thankfully I was mindful enough to pick up this was an IOI). We had a quick, fun convo which ended with her suggesting I should give her some pointers on how to play sometime, and I asked for her number, which she happily gave me.

We texted back and forth for a few days, I was trying to keep this limited because I know my text game isn't very strong, and I just generally want to get to know someone in person rather than through text. I definitely got great vibes from that she was interested and attracted. Scheduling the date ended up being kind of troublesome and that was starting to worry me, but I was able to stick to the mindset of "if it doesn't work out, oh well, there will be more opportunities."

We were finally able to get an afternoon date setup over the weekend. We met at a small park and walked to a nearby ice cream shop, then back to the park. We spent about 2 hours together just chatting about ourselves. The time went by real quick, I feel like we were both having a good time. I made sure to apply some light kino. When I held her hand for the first time she said that's cute and cozied up a bit closer. She said I was the first guy ever to straight up ask her for her phone number like that, which I thought was surprising because I think she's a very attractive HB7. That definitely helped her attraction to me I think.

At the end of the date we hugged and then after the hug I didn't release right away and did the gaze into the eyes, then looked back and forth between her lips and eyes. I didn't get a good indication from her from that so my confidence immediately took a nose dive and I stupidly asked her if I could kiss her instead of just going for it, and she said "not yet but that's sweet" and we hugged again.

I'm not too worried about the kiss thing, the overall vibe I got from her was very cautious and wanting to go slow (she's about 5 months removed from being dumped by her ex-fiance, 3 weeks before their wedding which raised some a red flag in my brain but we'll see how that turns out). I'm totally fine with that, I'm not doing this just to get laid. I just want to start having actual personal connections with women.

We've texted a small amount since the date, and will be setting up date #2 soon. Overall I'm very pleased with the experience and the only thing I really wish I'd have done differently is expressing my attraction/escalating. I'm trying to not be outcome dependent on this, so I can keep a good clear head and not come across as needy or anything like that, but it is tough keeping my excitement in check.

I will say one thing I think I did really well during the date, was just being present and not over thinking anything. I wasn't thinking at all about what to do or say, it was all just happening naturally.

TLDR: First date in many years, date went well but didn't k-close. Setting up 2nd date soon.

Edit: Thanks for everyone's feedback and comments. I'm feeling great about the whole situation and very proud of myself. Dating isn't so scary after all.