Running Club Rocks
Why did I never join a club before? People told me to, but I never quite got round to it. Big mistake.
Take today's race, a hilly 10 miler. Traditionally I'd drive myself up there, pace around on my own for an unfeasibly long period of time (being pathologically early, I'd be there hours in advance of the start), do the run, and go home. During the run, if things weren't going my way, I'd give in mentally.
Today, on the other hand, I got a lift up to the race with other running club people and, while we were still there nice and early, I had people to chat to while I waited. There were 10 or 12 of us, plus a couple of spectators. I hadn't actually met all of them yet, not all of them have been to training in the past couple of weeks, but still turn up to race. But pre-run was only the appetiser for the running club race experience.
It was the first time in my natty new Kirkstall vest which I picked up on Wednesday. At the start I was with some of the other girls I usually run with, but as soon as we started I tried to put some distance between myself and them. It may sound stupidly competitive, but I wanted to prove a point by beating them. I know that I should be faster than they are based on our half marathon PBs, and I wanted to remind myself of that. After less than a mile I spotted another bloke (who I'd never met before) in a Kirkstall vest ahead of me, and he spotted me too. Of course, he had more idea who I was than vice versa (having had a mention in the most recent club newsletter as a new member), and he hung back to have a bit of a chat.
I was actually finding the first two miles or so pretty hard. With being ill during the week, if I hadn't had someone talking to me I'd have been tempted to stop, turn round, and go back the way I came. DNFing did cross my mind, I'm sorry to say. But I kept going, trying to keep up with him (point to prove). Of course, he was actually faster than me, but he hadn't been able to train for a few weeks because his mother was in hospital and visiting times clashed with training, so he said he wanted to use it as a training run more than a race, and was quite happy to spend the race getting me round.
And that's exactly what he did. I will admit to walking some of the hills (I find it a better use of energy to walk up and then put on a burst of speed on the downhill, on the basis that my running uphill speed isn't that much faster than my walking uphill speed), and he got a little ahead of me, but he'd then let me catch up with him, or run back towards me for a while if he was getting too far ahead. The hills were hard, but actually not as hard as I'd been pessimistically expecting, and the views more than made up for it because it was a lovely scenic route.
For the last mile he really pushed me on, he was overtaking people and I was pretty much sticking with him, which felt good. I suspect that I got round a couple of minutes faster than I would have done without him there (although apparently just behind me was a second piece of motivation in the form of the fastest of the other girls. I think she finished 3 or 4 minutes behind me in the end, she said that she could see me for most of it, but couldn't quite catch me).
Afterwards, in another break from routine we went to a pub for lunch and a couple of pints. It was nice to actually be able to chat about the race and about running with real people who don't think you're a freak for spending your Sunday running up and down random hills for "fun".
I didn't expect the race day experience to be so much more fun as part of a group, and it definitely spurred me on to run a bit faster than I'd have done if I'd been there alone.
So 10/10 for running club!
Take today's race, a hilly 10 miler. Traditionally I'd drive myself up there, pace around on my own for an unfeasibly long period of time (being pathologically early, I'd be there hours in advance of the start), do the run, and go home. During the run, if things weren't going my way, I'd give in mentally.
Today, on the other hand, I got a lift up to the race with other running club people and, while we were still there nice and early, I had people to chat to while I waited. There were 10 or 12 of us, plus a couple of spectators. I hadn't actually met all of them yet, not all of them have been to training in the past couple of weeks, but still turn up to race. But pre-run was only the appetiser for the running club race experience.
It was the first time in my natty new Kirkstall vest which I picked up on Wednesday. At the start I was with some of the other girls I usually run with, but as soon as we started I tried to put some distance between myself and them. It may sound stupidly competitive, but I wanted to prove a point by beating them. I know that I should be faster than they are based on our half marathon PBs, and I wanted to remind myself of that. After less than a mile I spotted another bloke (who I'd never met before) in a Kirkstall vest ahead of me, and he spotted me too. Of course, he had more idea who I was than vice versa (having had a mention in the most recent club newsletter as a new member), and he hung back to have a bit of a chat.
I was actually finding the first two miles or so pretty hard. With being ill during the week, if I hadn't had someone talking to me I'd have been tempted to stop, turn round, and go back the way I came. DNFing did cross my mind, I'm sorry to say. But I kept going, trying to keep up with him (point to prove). Of course, he was actually faster than me, but he hadn't been able to train for a few weeks because his mother was in hospital and visiting times clashed with training, so he said he wanted to use it as a training run more than a race, and was quite happy to spend the race getting me round.
And that's exactly what he did. I will admit to walking some of the hills (I find it a better use of energy to walk up and then put on a burst of speed on the downhill, on the basis that my running uphill speed isn't that much faster than my walking uphill speed), and he got a little ahead of me, but he'd then let me catch up with him, or run back towards me for a while if he was getting too far ahead. The hills were hard, but actually not as hard as I'd been pessimistically expecting, and the views more than made up for it because it was a lovely scenic route.
For the last mile he really pushed me on, he was overtaking people and I was pretty much sticking with him, which felt good. I suspect that I got round a couple of minutes faster than I would have done without him there (although apparently just behind me was a second piece of motivation in the form of the fastest of the other girls. I think she finished 3 or 4 minutes behind me in the end, she said that she could see me for most of it, but couldn't quite catch me).
Afterwards, in another break from routine we went to a pub for lunch and a couple of pints. It was nice to actually be able to chat about the race and about running with real people who don't think you're a freak for spending your Sunday running up and down random hills for "fun".
I didn't expect the race day experience to be so much more fun as part of a group, and it definitely spurred me on to run a bit faster than I'd have done if I'd been there alone.
So 10/10 for running club!
posted by YP at 8:48 PM
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