Following another well attended & successful Beginners Course, the Beginners completed the Black Park Run 5k. Thank you to everyone who attended and well done. Thank you also to the club members for running the course and to Anne who was unable to run but came along to support.
The next course starts on 3/1/2015 at 9:15 am, Stockely Park. (We meet in the car park at Colham Roundabout UB8 3LL). All welcome.
Piece by Mark Collins who attended the Beginners Session
Back in June of this year I had no desire to run, not even for a bus. As a keen photographer I thought it would be a good idea to go and watch the Color Run at Wembley Park. It was indeed a good idea, as I got some really good photos there. As I was watching the event, I thought about the people taking part and all the fun they were having, wondering where they get the energy from to run 5k. A few days later I decided that I wanted to take part if they held the event next year and I asked a few people if they would join me – they seemed quite keen after seeing my photos. I thought that in a year’s time if I trained hard enough, I may be able to complete a 5k run.
I spoke to a member of Hayes and Harlington Road Runners about doing some training for a 5k run and she told me about the Beginners Sessions at Stockley Park on a Saturday Morning. I decided to turn up and see what it was all about, and after a few stretching and warm up exercises, I found myself running around a field, albeit for a minute at a time, then walking for a minute. Remarkably, I seemed to get on quite well with this and strangely enjoyed it! I went back the next week and progressed to two minutes running – this was the longest I had run since I was at school (about 35 years ago!)
Around this time I saw an ad for another Color Run, this time at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. I signed up for this with my friend in the running club and took part. I didn’t run all the way round the course, but enjoyed it as much as I had seen all those people at Wembley a few months before.
I carried on with the Saturday Morning Sessions and managed to run for half an hour without stopping after six weeks of training. I was really grateful to the volunteers at the Road Runners for their encouragement and advice.
On the eighth week of the course some of us took park in the 5k Park Run at Black Park and I completed the 5k in just under 36 mins, which I was really amazed at! I also lost about 20 pounds in weight during the time I was training.
I would just like to say that if you ever doubt yourself about anything, especially running, just give it a go, you might be surprised as I certainly was.
Thanks again to the volunteers at Hayes & Harlington Road Runners (of which I am now a member) for their support and encouragement – it means a lot to me!
Mark Collins
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