Unaffiliated

As Billy Joe Armstrong once sang, and probably wrote, "I'm a walking contradiction".  After spending an entire post banging on about the benefits of joining a running club (or social running group), I have now become unaffiliated.

Hanging up the Merthyr vest for now

All memberships with Welsh Athletic running clubs expire on 31st March. After which time, it's renew or get out!

Now, does this mean I have changed my mind, do I now think running with a group is a massive waste of time? Nah! The issue I have is purely financial and I hope to have it sorted within a few months!

However, this does open up possibilities. Do I renew?  Do I look at a different club? Do I look at a social running club instead (lacks the affiliation and race discount, but Merthyr has one)? Do I even round of the year and hang up the trainers? Was going too last year when running poorly.

Running clubs, drop me an email and I'll start reviewing applications for my services....

Anyway, the leg is 80% there I think, still sore but I've been back in the gym, so I may try a run tomorrow lunch time. Get a 'quick' 3/3.5 miles in then hope to go long on the weekend.

20? Yeah 20 miles is a great way to spend a Sunday!

There's also something going on Saturday, but it's supposed to be a secret I think. Apart from all the people who already know.

I'll post about that soon enough

Club night - in a supportive mood!

Not every run is about slamming 5:30 miles through the evening sunshine. Sometimes it's good to sit back and help runners a little earlier on their journey.

Sadly I have no qualifications and haven't got a Scooby Doo how to do that.

I do however, offer myself as a 'Support Coach' if needed on club nights. This basically I means I help, back mark make sure nobody gets lost and the like, As we've been doing more technical sessions, with proper coaches who know what they'r doing, lately I haven't been required, but last night, a coach shortage threw me into business end of things.

As a result I (think I) helped out, helped someone run the furthest they'd ever gone and hopefully made a vaguely positive difference!

The route was:



You can't argue it's a different type of satisfaction to a quick run or a PB. But it's good and a type of rewarding I could get used too.

In other news, following the weekends exploits in Coopers Field have reduced my RunBritain handicap to it's lowest ever value.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not clear on how this works, but I know it's getting better!