#socialrunner

[thakanetm]

[tattoedandfit]

Another #mrtt meet up this morning for some hills out at Arbor Hills. A little chilly at the start, but the sun warmed it up nicely. Still congested, but I pushed myself thanks to running with some fast runners! #running #runhappy #motherrunner #socialrunner #texasrunner #runningmom #fitness #fitmom #healthy #arborhills #planotx

[normalgirlruns]

London City Runners - NGR gets social. And sweaty.

Way back in January, when I sat down to write my list of running resolutions, I decided that this would be the year that I would become more social as a runner. London has lots of runners and lots of running clubs but I’ve held back from trying them either because I am afraid of making a fool of myself OR because logistics get in the way. Logistics dictate how Londoners live their lives – where to meet friends for dinner, where to job hunt or what to do on the weekend is balanced against journey times on public transportation. If you think I am exaggerating, I had a candidate decline a job offer once with a significant pay raise because it would have added at least an hour each way of his commute. After tax, he was going to earn about £500 a week – or £100 a day – extra to travel an extra two hours away from his family.

My point is that the running clubs that I have found either organize group runs on weeknights that begin too early (seriously, who gets off work at 6:00pm these days??) or on weekends where the meeting location is outside of Central London. I might love running but not enough to get up at 7:30 am to get there on a Saturday.

Last week, I was eating lunch and ran a Google search for ‘Central London + Running Club’, only to find a new search result: London City Runners.

The club checked a lot of the boxes I was looking for: caters to a range of levels, weeknight, meets at 7:15 (meaning I can get there by leaving about 6:30 from my office), free and deliberately social in nature. I emailed the Club found and got a very friendly reply inviting me along on Tuesday night.

Exiting the Underground station, I pulled out my Apple mapping app and stumbled around this unfamiliar area of South London in attempts to get myself to meeting spot. Thankfully I found another slightly confused, Spandex-clad individual who was also furiously waving around his iPhone looking for signal. We introduced ourselves and headed off towards the bar together – it was his second run with the group and he had nothing but nice things to say.

When I arrived, I was shown where to put my stuff so that it could be locked up and then gathered with the others outside. I wasn’t sure which group of runners to go with - slowest group leaves first, with the next three groups leaving in a staggered fashion so that everyone finishes more closely together. The email had explained pacing works on the basis of your 10km racing time... which is a toughie seeing I haven’t run a 10km race in six years. I decided to be conservative and join the first group, met some nice girls at the front and enjoyed a leisurely chat for the first 0.5 mile or so. Our pace was in the 11:00-11:30 mile range and at the moment, I find running slowly is harder on my knees/quads than running more quickly (someone please explain that one). When the second group caught up and then passed us, I decided to tack on behind.

The route was fantastic – it takes you around Bermondsey to Tower Hill bridge (yep, the really famous one), past the Tower of London and along the river until you cross back into South London at the Millennium Bridge, passing the Tate Modern. I marked a guy that was running in front of me as the perfect pacer – he was about 30 seconds ahead and I could keep track of him along the winding and unfamiliar streets. While there were a few times that I worried I was following someone who wasn’t a club runner, I managed to pick my marks correctly.

What a great run – seriously, one of the best that I have had in a while. Yes, my knees were a bit achey (left hammy really demanded its share of the attention) but I felt strong and in control of my breathing. In the end, my splits came in at:

  Parts of my run felt fast but it was only when I looked down and saw a 7:47 pace on my Garmin that I realised actually, I was moving pretty quickly. My chief take away from the run itself is that I am actually probably faster than I give myself credit for. I have already noticed that marathon training has made me obsessed with the Long Run, so any gains in other areas tend to go unnoticed. However, nearly two months of solid speedwork is taking effect. Now I find myself asking, do I push harder or do I just keep using the guidelines I’ve been given for a 4:00 hour finish??

I was in a GREAT mood afterwards and ended up chatting with lots of different people. There was a mix of casual hobby joggers, occasional racers and competitive runners, including one guy who is running a championship 10km at the end of the month. It was a very unintimidating environment to meet new people in. And as should be expected with runners in a group setting, it took less than 10 minutes of conversation before we were talking about sh*tting in the woods. Remarkable how bodily functions can bring a group of strangers together.

I ended up staying on waayyy too late with a group of the faster guys (one just did a 1:26 Half!) at the bar afterwards, where I learned that a number of club members are signed up for the Edinburgh race weekend. They are plans in the works for a cheering section and social events. Yeah!

I will definitely go back next week and I will start in the second group – the guys figured I could probably move up to the third but I want to get to know the route a little bit better first.

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Otherwise, I am working to get my training back on track this week. I switched out my tempo run on Wednesday and took an extra rest day. I was planning to do a threshold session last night but a friend needed some emergency child care and I am not one to turn down the opportunity for baby snuggles.

Today I head back to Wimbledon Common for a 13 mile Long Run. 

I will see how I feel tomorrow before making a decision about yoga because this guy is back. My only goal would be to not cry during the class. True story.

How is everyone else’s training going? Any advice around goal setting and pacing? Any suggestions for this newly social runner?? When is it too early in a running friendship to talk about sh*itting in public places? Any thoughts on group running?