Learn to Run Club - Runner's Choice

My decision to run (actually, walk!) a half marathon in Vancouver may have been crazy, but joining a beginner running club wasn't. I like to think that my crazy half marathon race participation made me realize that I had a lot to learn! I give credit to this running group for my initial running success in 2003. I cannot remember anybody's name, but I liked the leaders and liked the people in my group. I learned a lot from the half hour mini-lessons before the group runs on proper shoes, injury prevention, etc. At the time, this was my only source of information. I recall how I kept quiet about my half marathon, not sharing with anyone that I had done one, because I was realizing by then how completely unprepared for it I had been! At the time, I was feeling even a little embarrassed about it. :(

This club was divided into three sections, based on speed/pace, and I ended up in the middle group, not quite beginner because of my treadmill running, but not quite as fast as the other group. I was surprised to see how "slow" our running pace was inbetween walking. This is when I realized that "sprinting" for a minute before walking was not the way to improve my running. Learning this helped me significantly when I was on my own during the week on my scheduled runs. I think about this sometimes when I am running and checking my pace to see if I am on track, or need to pick up the pace (and in rare cases, need to slow it down a bit!).

I appreciated my leader a lot. She was not what I was expecting, and this is a good thing. When I joined the club, I had assumed that it was going to be some super fit athlete with very little body fat who had been running all of his or her life who would be leading us beginners. Instead, my group leader was not some who had been running for a long time, but had actually been "one of us." She clearly loved running, and it was this enthusiasm, as well as her encouragement to start slowly, that made her ideal. We could identify with her, and she made us feel less self-conscious.

I also appreciated the 10-week running program provided for us. Once again, it was sobering reminder for me as to how much work it takes to get to a 5K running level, let along a half marathon!

My First 5K - Summer Night 5K
July 25, 2003
34:07
Summer Night 5K