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This page last updated:
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
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How to do... running
Duncan Hall, centre with Yaxley Runners at Hampton Sports Centre. (6DL0925134) Picture: DAVID LOWNDES
THE last time I ran anywhere was when I was trying not to miss the last train home after a gig in Cambridge a year ago.
So joining the Yaxley Runners and Joggers’ Monday training session as they prepared to run in this Sunday’s Great Eastern Run around the city centre wasn’t very high on my to-do list.
But in the spirit of the How To column – whose existence seems mainly to torture me and add a raft of embarrassing photos to our internet site – I pulled on my trainers, shorts and old baggy T-shirt and headed down to the Hampton Sports Facility, for my first proper run since I was at school.
My hopes weren’t high when I first arrived – there were an awful lot of very slim people around, all wearing lightweight running gear (to stop the bane of every runner’s life – the dreaded jogger’s nipple). What made it worse was none of them were sweating after walking up to the building from the car.
The Yaxley Runners is a 20-year-old club that you can use to get fit, to enter competitions, or simply to meet new people.
And the welcome I received underlined the fact that they were keen to encourage people to feel at home and keep running with the club.
Vice-chairwoman Carry Murphy said: “The founder members were Yaxley people, but now the club has expanded. We moved to Hampton a few years ago.
“This is our homebase, but members live all across the city and in some of the villages.”
I was taken out on a one-to-one beginner’s run by Carry’s husband Sean, who also acts as PR officer for the club.
He said: “As a beginner the first run depends on your level of ability. We start by running and walking over the course of half an hour – that is accepted as the best way to get into running, rather than running for five minutes and exhausting yourself.
“Eventually you will progress through to three-quarter-of-an-hour sessions and join the other runners.”
The re-launch of the half-marathon Great Eastern Run, which is setting off from Cathedral Square on Sunday at 11am, has seen club membership expand, with 23 new members joining this year.
Sean took me on a short tour of the new township of Hampton, taking in some of the new lakes and housing estates in the evening gloom.
We started out walking, breaking into a run for short, timed periods to allow my body to get used to the unusual movement.
Almost instantly my legs started to tell me what a bad idea it was, with little pains digging into my shins, but Sean’s promise that those would fade as the run went on proved to be true.
I actually surprised myself that evening. I may have been sweating like a pig, but I wasn’t getting too out of breath, and my worst fear of collapsing with a stitch never materialised.
Throughout the run we kept talking to each other to make sure we were breathing correctly and so Sean could monitor how my breathing was going – adding another social aspect that you might not get in a gym or competitive sport.
He worked out that the distance we had covered was roughly the same as the Great Eastern Run fun run – just under three miles or five kilometres – which shows it isn’t beyond the ability of most people.
And I’m proud to say that rather than feeling like I was going to die I felt quite invigorated, and my muscles didn’t ache too much over the next few days, thanks in part to a series of warm-down stretches Sean showed me.
As well as running in the Great Eastern Run, the group organises the annual Folksworth 15-mile race which takes place every January.
The runners are also one of 16 clubs that take part in the Frostbite Friendly League – which is a series of six five-mile races that are run from October to March.