Today the last thing I wanted to do was run. I’m feeling overwhelmed by how much time I’m spending running. I’ve never exercised so much in my whole life and it’s starting to hurt. I had planned to run this morning, my first daylight run of the week, but I got waylaid baking cookies with my best friend’s three year old. I knew I was procrastinating, but I told myself I’d swap my rest day and run tomorrow instead. I went to work and felt like I’d failed because I’d not followed the plan. I told myself it was ok, but I knew it wasn’t.
Then I read a post from a fellow member of the RunDemCrew family that made me put my trainers on and go for my 3 mile run. They say the runs you least want to do are often the best and they might be right. I felt inspired by Natty’s piece, it reminded me that reaching further than your grasp is what the RunDemCrew is all about and that I too aspire to be the best that I can be. I give up too easily, but not today. Thanks to Natty I stuck to the plan, I didn’t fall off my training wagon and I made my run a fast run. I felt good when I’d finished and now I relish the prospect of my rest day even more because I know I’ve earned it. So thank you Natty.
Tonight I went running with the Nike + Run Club. I was completely underwhelmed and realised, not for the first time, how fortunate I am to be a member of the RunDemCrew.
The welcome at NikeTown in Oxford Circus was non-existent – I just joined a long queue to check in my bag where I was shouted at to hurry up and move out of the way before being herded with the others into the store’s entrance to await instructions. These were mostly drowned out by the deafening voiceover which accompanied the giant screened video that seems to play on a loop 24/7, but I did manage to catch that we would be running in a group only as far as Regent’s Park. Then we would divide into our individual distances of 3, 5 or 7 miles and lap the park before returning to the store. At this point I still thought those of us who’d chosen to run 7 miles would be running together as a group, but when we got to the park it became clear that we were to head off around the perimeter of the park at our own pace. As no one had been introduced at the start of the session, there was only someone to run with if you’d come with a friend. So much for the slogan “We are Nike Run Club. Never run alone.” Luckily, I had come with my marathon training buddy @EllieCanttweet so we were able to pace ourselves and look out for each other, which is just as well because otherwise we’d have been completely on our own.
There were some Nike marshals who led us to the park at the start of the run, but they didn’t run with us, despite wearing waistcoats marked “Pacer”. Two of them stayed at the halfway point to direct those running shorter distances back to the store and towards the end of the run one of these pacers sprinted round to run with each of us for a few minutes in order to promote the other running “clubs” they offer. Silly me for thinking a pacer was someone who ran with you to help you run consistently at a particular speed. As it was, Ellie and I set our own pace which varied from about a 9’45″ minute mile to over 12 minutes. Given that we’d been instructed to run on the side of the road that was neither lit nor paved this didn’t seem too bad to me, but as it turned out we were the last of the runners to return. Two of the ‘pacers’ were waiting for us and after enquiring briefly about our run and establishing we knew the way back to the store they just shot off and left us to fend for ourselves. When we got back we were offered a bottle of water and pointedly reminded that the store was now closed and asked if we could hurry up and leave.
At no point did I learn the names of the marshals, nor did I meet anyone else on the run. There was no encouragement to run with others covering the same distance nor was there any attempt to stick close to others running at the same pace. All in all, it was pretty rubbish and it couldn’t have been further in spirit from the nights at RunDemCrew which are always fun and inclusive.
Charlie, the founder of RunDem puts it this way. “We are family first and foremost and are committed to building a positive and encouraging community of creative people who enjoy running and the change it can bring to yourself and those you interact with.” What makes RunDemCrew so special is the people. They are good, open, friendly people who look out for each other so no one gets left behind. I am happy and proud to be part of the family.
So, when is a running club not a running club? When it’s a family, when it’s RunDemCrew.
