Hello blog lovers.
Well, you can knock me sideways with a 10k medal, and roll me down a hill! How many did we have in group 1 today?! Well, and for those of an OCD nature, you will love this. A big fat round 30 runners! That's right thirty!
Usually there are quite a few of our beginners group that can't make the Tuesday evening club runs, but it seemed as if the whole of our graduation group came along this time! I can't tell you how proud me and Sherry looked! Some of them went into group 2 and quite a few of them came in to my group! Of course I had some great help, our Michael, a newly qualified LiRF came along to help sweep and encourage any that were at the back, and CoachHels helped to be in the middle of the pack while I led.
I wanted to be the first to lead our new recruits through the woods for their first club run! Again, for this week we were only just going to touch on the woods as we ran up the path parallel to Birchwood, but at least it's still in the woods. Also it was a great opportunity to go through a few rules for group running when going through the woods. You all know the ones, when we see a root we shout it out, when there's a low branch, we shout it out, when we see sticky out bricks......yup, you get the picture! Now I was expecting to hear the message getting passed along, all down 30 people! Ok, so maybe not all 30 of them needed to call it out, but it was a good test. I seems as if there are quite a few shy people in the group, as I couldn't hear the call after I called out and one maybe two others! Something that we will work on as the summer months draw nearer! Oh I am so looking forward to running through the woods in the evening with our club! Its just so invigorating! After a days work, or with the kids, or even just a busy day at home, getting out in the evening, through the woods, listening to bird song, with the sweet aroma of fresh air (it does have a smell you know, once you're through Dog Poo Ally)
We all managed to get through the woods though, no trips, slips or falls. We came out on Orpington road and we had to cross over! We took a little break here while we waited for the rest of our group. So, I suggested that they could run back to the back runners or we could do squats! We did squats.....well there was one there that decided to just practise her breathing! I was trying to cross where we came out, but there is no crossing there, we had to run turn right to run to the crossing. It was the only way that the drivers would stop to let us cross over! Once over though we turned left and ran towards the loop that we would be doing! Yes, it is a bit of a challenge for our beginners, but really, if you think about it, the cheeky little loop we did when they were actually training to do the 5k in the first place was a bit of a challenge, and they did that with no problem. And then of course they all ran their first 5k last Saturday (blog to follow soon, honest!)
The road part of our route now, and it really was quite a group to lead. I must say we looked fabulous, there were enough bright luminous shirts among our group to make sure that those who were in dark colours (by the way, we must mention that for next week!) we sufficiently flanked! We ran all the way down to the little round about a quick couple of laps while they all caught up again and then we continued...up the hill of course.
We had a quick regroup at the crest of the hill ready for the down hill! Now this is a good bit! Not only was it down hill but at the bottom of the it there was a group of kids, about 6 or 7 of them, they saw us, they all lined up at the side of the road and then started "oooooooo-ing" with the arms out stretched and making little movements, then as we came past them the 'oooo-ing' got louder and then we ran past them as they did a 'mexican wave'! I made us all smile, we turned the corner and the rest of the group of friends, about another 5 or so did the same thing! I tell you, if I was a newbie runner and that happened to me I would be feeling so chuffed round about then, because I've been a runner for a long time and I was still so chuffed to have a little cheer like that! I hope our new recruits remember that little cheer and then try and imagine it done by a couple of hundred people as they are finishing a race!
We had that other little hill to climb up, the one we do our hill reps on, or as it was for our first timers, they could run around the little roundabout instead. Some of them ran around the little grassy island but most of them ran up to the top of the hill and then back down again! Marvellous. We finished our loop and headed up towards Petts Wood Road. I sent the front runners up towards the bigger roundabout on Petts Wood Road and suggested they run back to us or stay there for a rest. Again, the front runners were totally keen on this running malarkey and chose to run up and then back down again to the back runners.
With just one more road to run down on before we get to crossways, we were nearly all done. What a great evening from running. Just super fantastic. We had a huge group, two extra wonderful leaders among us as well as our usual group 1 runners. Such a great atmosphere. I think all the new comers were glad to see that they could do it, and I know that some of them were dubious whether they could do it but were pleasantly surprised to see that they could do it! Listen, it's not easy, it don't even feel easy even after a good few years! But you do learn to love that little bit of satisfaction that you did it, that you just pushed yourself, not matter how hard or little. Or the fact that you got out, even if you didn't want to and just ran the most slowest 5k, 4k or even 1k ever! Just doing something is better than doing nothing!
Anyway. I loved it, just simply loved it. It was a huge group but I had some wonderful helpers!
Here's our geeky stats, it's a K9 route, only as we gone through the woods K9 looks a little thicker around the middle!
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