Beginners

For the past year and a half, my wife and I have been helping out with a local running beginners group. It is held just round the corner from our house and is on a Friday at 7pm, so easy for us to get to without rushing.

I think we have been “helpers” with 4 separate groups now, helping them start slowly, building up to their “5k graduation run” at the local Parkrun event. They begin by running a few minutes, then walking and then repeating, increasing the amount of running over the 10 week course.

There are many beginners courses happening all at the same time, all organised by the same local running club. When the beginners get together for their graduation run, there are usually 200 new runners, plus their group run lead people and helpers. Overall, there will be over 600 people at the Parkrun event, mostly from the club. The helpers usually “buddy” one of the beginners from their group, or you can offer to buddy anyone and they will try to find a beginner to match your speed.

Its amazing how well the process works. I can remember many beginners who felt like they were dying after their first session, perhaps only running a total of 10 minutes over the 45 minute session. As well as the run on a Friday, they are assigned homework to do throughout the week and soon get their fitness up and by the end, they are completing a 5k run in under 45 minutes - some much faster.

Lots of people drop out after a few weeks once they realise the effort it takes. Also, some develop injuries or aches and pains and if they miss a week or two, don’t feel as if they can come back and rejoin the process (which isn’t true). In one recent group, only a single lady graduated to the 5k Parkrun, but in others there will be up to 10 from our group, all of different abilities.

I wouldn’t say that I feel I am super supportive or inspirational to the beginners in our group. I do chat to them and make sure they are ok, offering a little help if they need it. There are usually some fitter beginners who I end up running with as I am faster than most of the other helpers. Its good that the helpers are also of different abilities, so they match the beginners too. Perhaps I just help by being there and sharing my journey with them, how I was a beginner like them, just quite a few years ago.