Running Groups

Outdoor gym equipment

I always assumed that I would be able to spend more time running after retiral but it has not quite worked out like that. I did make a determined effort for the first three months and managed to achieve my fastest times for five years but then I had a self-inflicted back injury which stopped me running for six months. Last year I had a heel problem that took away another 4 months so my mileage for the last two years has been less than I would normally do in a year.  I recovered from injury in November and since then I have managed to run regularly three or four times a week. I was already well ahead of my monthly target for January with nine days to go and whilst running in the forest I was stopped by a woman runner and asked if I would like to join her local running group.  I was too polite to say no and I was intrigued by the prospect of running in a group again. I had spent eight or nine years in running clubs when I was racing regularly but I have run almost entirely on my own for the past twenty years.

So on Tuesday evening, after a hard day in the hills the previous day, I was invited to turn up for some group running therapy. Almost all my running is first thing in the morning, running in the dark in the forest with the temperature having dropped below freezing was hardly inviting. But I went and joined a group of four including Angela who had invited me along. We set off at a reasonable pace and headed into the depths of the forest, our head torches vital on trails which are free from light pollution and are harbouring fallen trees.

I ended up running along with Angela who was running well within herself but slowly increasing the pace. After a mile or so we decided to take an extra loop than the other two with the intention that we would catch them up after we got back on the main trail. After a couple of miles, I began to lose ground in the pitch dark of the forest and, unlike other parts of Scotland, there was no aurora borealis here, so Angela had to stop to let me catch up a couple of times.  I was slightly perplexed because I thought I was going quite well and we certainly caught up with the others having done an extra kilometre.

When we caught them I fell into the easier pace whilst Angela went off with one of the other runners for the last mile.  We had run 8 miles, my longest run of the year and I felt good at the finish.  I came home and looked up Angela on Wikipedia - I knew she was a top hill runner but she is a legend.  I felt privileged to train in such an exalted company.  Later in the week, I met an old running acquaintance whom I used to race against twenty years ago.  He subsequently became the world over 50 champion for 1500 metres.  He turns seventy this year and is still training two or three times a day intending to set some age-level records.  He runs about 2500 miles a year with a pulse rate of 38 and is as hard as nails. He is more than likely to succeed as he did when he became a top mountain bike rider in his fifties.

The effect of meeting these two dedicated runners was just what I needed. I have now run for seven of the last eight days and managed my highest monthly total for six years. I had fallen into the easy trap of believing three or four runs a week was all I could manage but after nine miles last night with the running group I was out again this morning at a pace I could enjoy on a perfectly still, sunny but freezing day (it was so bright that we generated 6kWh of solar electricity).  Later on, I decided on a 7/29 fitness campaign for this month and took my outdoor gym equipment for a ride in the dark