Not many of my girl friends like to run. I wish they did, but sadly it takes a lot of effort to convince one of them to join me for a quick run along the river or to sign up for a race. Sure a lot of the boys run, but they are super speedy. Far too speedy for me, and although I do want to train a little with some of them to get faster, but that will only be for short distances. Like a mile.
So, in order to make my runs a little more sociable, and potentially make some new running friends, I am on the hunt for a running club.
My criteria are as follows;
Proximity
Ideally I would like to find a running club that is either close to my office or home. I’d rather not have to travel too far to and from each session.
Timings
A club that is on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday is preferable, as I often meet up with friends after work on a Thursday. But I am willing to try any weekday evening (I count Friday as a weekend!) I also need enough time to make it there from work, without there being too much ‘hanging around’ time.
Pace
Ideally I would find a club where there are people run around my pace so that I don’t feel like I slow everyone down, but I’d like to be pushed a little to increase my speed. I know that running with faster runners makes you run faster, so I have to put this into practise!
Cost
After forking out recently for a very plush gym, I’d rather not spend too much (or any) on my running club!
People
I don’t really like trying new things out on my own, so I would ideally find a group of really friendly, welcoming runners to join! I don’t mind a mix of men and women, but would prefer there to be some women around my age and pace for me to run with!!
With this all in mind, over the next few weeks I am going to try out the following running clubs.
- RunDemCrewWest
- Sweat Shop Running Community
- Nike Run Club
- Boutique Run After Dark (limited availability and number of sessions)
- Lululemon Run Club (not sure whether it fits my criterea of being close to home or work!)
- Park Run – free weekly timed 5K events
Do you have any in West London that you could recommend to me? are you a member of a running club? Want to try any of them with me???
I’m in a very similar situation, having just moved to the area and not having any running friends! I feel like I’m too slow to run with other people yet, but I am getting into Park Runs 🙂 Let me know how you get on, and I may pluck up the courage to join you! Beki x
You should definitely try one, I am totally stepping out of my comfort zone going on my own. But hopefully it will be fun!
I’m also on the hunt for a run club (but I live in NYC!) I tried the Nike Run Club near me last week and liked it a lot. I’m not very fast either and there were a lot of different paces in the group.
That’s great, are you going to go again?
I’m a regular at the Boutique Sport runs – they are great because it doesn’t matter what speed you run at (I’m quite slow) the group tends to pull you along and helps you get quicker.
I haven’t tried any of the other ones – I was too scared of my ability to try a run club, so I trained for my half marathon all on my own. Now I really love running with others and chatting away as we run – especially now I am trying to build my fitness back up and get my running distances in.
Looking forward to seeing how you find the other clubs too!