The RunSmart Blog!!!
New Website, New Blog, how exciting!!
How do you launch a new Blog and Website? I guess you start at the beginning!!
Having trained for the London Marathon on my own, I could see how much running with others made running more enjoyable and, in some ways, easier. Living in Leyland my options for this were a female only club (South Ribble Runners) or to travel to Bamber Bridge (Red Rose Road Runners) for group running sessions. Joining a club seemed daunting and frankly most of the sessions they ran I would struggle to get to time wise anyway!!
That left one option… Start a new less daunting type of social group. England Athletics and Lancashire Sport plus a very good friend in Carl Fisher helped RunSmart Leyland become a reality!! Open to all abilities, with no club affiliation or membership making it easy for anyone to run with us.
The first Group Run took place on the 24th March 2014, nearly 5 ½ years ago!! 6 people, mostly friends turned up and off we went!! When I think back to that night, we have come a long way and while I am pretty much the self-deprecating type there isn’t much other than pride for what Carl and I have achieved over that time, with a lot of help!!
RunSmart Leyland has been nominated for Regional England Athletics Awards, Local Community awards and the group, through the generosity of its runners, has supported so many local causes such a food banks and homeless charities. There has even been more than one night where we have had over 300 people running around the streets of Leyland!
With England Athletics qualified Leaders in Running Fitness we can provide a safe, insured place for people to come together and run. From the beginning this has been the cornerstone of RunSmart and will continue to be, some 15 amazing Leaders and Associates help to keep 2 sessions per week and a beginner’s program that is run twice a year going.
The last 5 ½ years have basically been utterly crazy! There is no way we would have ever though that 6 people going for a run together would have ended up where we are now, I have met some the best of friends through the group and the social side is as much a part of the group now as the physical running side!! One thing I am certain off is we probably have no idea what RunSmart will be like in another 5 years’ time but, open to all and free it will be!!
Keep Smiling and Run Happy
Damian