For anybody who has read any of my blogs before, you will be fully aware that I am a member of Petts Wood Runners. I have only been a member for a couple of years, but I can honestly say it has transformed my running.
Prior to training for the 2012 London Marathon, I had never even considered joining a running club. More content with reading the running magazines or looking for information and advice on the Internet. Through one of the free running magazines, I discovered Parkrun. A lot of the regular volunteers at Bromley Parkrun are PWR's and that is how I found out about the club.
So I just want to highlight some of the benefits of being part of a running club. I can obviously only vouch for PWR, but I am pretty sure that all running clubs have the same ethos.
We meet on a Tuesday night for the regular weekly run. Numbers can vary from 40 to over 100 people turning up and there are 7 groups catering for all paces. PWR also run a regular beginners group, where people who are completely new to running embark on an 8 week course culminating in a 5k Parkrun.
We have additional 'track sessions' on a Thursday night, using the Norman's Park Athletics Track going through various drills for different targets eg 5k or maybe 10k. In addition, now we have the light evenings another Thursday session is run concentrating on a core workout!
On Sunday's we have informal runs especially during the training period for the Spring Marathons.
Add to this that as a club we can turn up en-mass to 10k events & Half Marathons, we also compete in other events such as the Assembly league (a series of 5k races), cross country events, the list goes on.
So as you can see, there is pretty much something for everyone. Add to this the social side, friendships, sharing advice, comparing war wounds. If you are a regular runner, I honestly cannot see a downside to not joining a club!
We also host an annual 10k which is regularly voted one of the top 10k's in the country and a lot of that is down to the PWR members who give up a considerable amount of time to organise, officiate and marshall the event.
Best of all is having other people (in addition to your family) cheering you on at events, it's amazing how a bit of encouragement can help you squeeze out an extra 2% effort in a finish!
I am just going to highlight a couple of recent events I have been involved as part of PWR.
TRUSTWORTHY
A couple of weeks ago Petts Wood Runners organised a 'Mob Match' against three other clubs; Orpington Road Runners (our local rivals) along with New Eltham Runners & Bexley Runners. I think this is the 3rd Mob Match that I have been involved in and as always the camaraderie between all the runners was superb. The basis of a mob match if you don't know, is your finishing position determines your points and the club with the least number of points is declared the winner (scoring adjusted according to the club with the least number of runners at the event)
A local Sports Shop, Cook & Matthews who provide PWR with our club kit, had organised for some suppliers to be present, including Mizuno.
Mizuno had about 100 pairs of their shoes in different models and sizes and we were invited to wear a new pair of trainer for the event, if we liked them, we had the opportunity to purchase them at 50% discount, if not, just give them back! I think that proves just what a trustworthy bunch us runner are.
However, I can trump that. As it was a pleasant evening, Mich and Max came to watch and 10 mins before the start of the event, a woman approached us and asked if Mich would look after her 5yo boy. Mich was a bit taken aback and said, "er sorry who are you", she gave her name and then Mich said "are you Petts Wood", the woman replied, "no I am with Bexley".
Mich 'baby sat' whilst this woman ran and Max had a little friend to play with. But it epitomises the camaraderie of runners. Although to be honest, not sure if I would approach a complete stranger and ask them to look after Max?
But it was a really good event, with free food, a raffle and the icing on the cake was the clubhouse had T.E.A (Traditional English Ale) from the HogsBack Brewery on handpump. Like a pig in $hit ;-)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/308579367
Oh, Orpington won the Mob Match. Booooooo
RELAY
Tonight as I type this, I have just got back from a Relay event hosted by Beckenham Runners. Again a first for me. In fact the last time I did a relay was probably 25 years ago at school? But this isn't a 100 metre relay passing a baton. This is a 2.6mile relay with teams of 3. Once again a great event catering for all speeds. PWR entered 8 teams. I was running the 2nd leg for my team. We were playing catch up from the start as when the horn sounded, Chris running the 1st leg was in the bushes having a pee, so ended up doing a 200+ metre sprint to play catch up from the outset! Must have been the nerves! I managed to run my leg in 19:25 which is an average 7:25 min/mile, so was quite pleased with that.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/313270617
Haven't yet got the formal results, but another good evening and the majority of the runners stayed to the end to cheer the last couple of people home!
So another event done that I wouldn't have done if I was not part of a running club and a good way of using an event as part of a training plan eg, a threshold run.
Blimey, this was meant to be a short blog based around one topic.
To conclude, if you do not belong to a running club, join one! Even Mich my wife is now a member :-)
Until Next Time
TJH
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