Get Me Started 2020 course for beginners
The Farnham Runners Get Me Started 2020 course for beginners, originally scheduled for April, finally got started in October. A maximum of 12 people signed up; nine new members, three returning from time off running for a variety of reasons.
Coach, Linda Tyler said:
With the benefit of an England Athletics qualified Coach and Leaders in Running Fitness, the club has been able to offer two sessions each week; the first on Saturday mornings and the second on Wednesday evenings.
âAll the beginners had different reasons for wanting to take up or resume running, all equally committed to completing the course and it has been wonderful to watch their progress over the past few weeksâ
When the latest national lockdown was announced, coach and leaders decided to keep the course going by offering 1:1 sessions with a choice of time slots to accommodate all the runners. This decision was met with universal approval from the participants with comments such as:
âThanks for organising this, it is really helpful and quite inspiring to see such a speedy and robust response to the limitations imposed by another lockdownâ
âThank you very much. We really appreciate the coaches working to complete the course.â
âI couldnât have been happier if I had won the marathon today after the recent week, thanks to all for spending their time with us.â
âThanks so much to all of you for giving up your time to keep us going through lockdown, hugely appreciated.â
âThank you for keeping the sessions going â much appreciatedâ
âWow, thatâs dedication! Thank youâ
The first âlockdownâ session went very well; one coach and three leaders, ten runners, three time slots. Following a five minute warm up walk, the runners then had to run for eight minutes, walk five, then run for another eight minutes before a final cool down walk and stretches. Everyone achieved the weekâs goal.
The second was held in terrible weather condi-tions but with encouragement from Linda, Jacquie Browne, Ali Hardaway and Craig Tate-Grimes they all (separately) managed to run for 20 minutes without stopping.
The runners have arranged to meet up in twos to do their âhomeworkâ sessions and we are looking forward to watching everyoneâs progress despite the lockdown restrictions.
Linda Tyler added:
âBy the end of the course in December, we are confident that our beginners will be able to run for thirty minutes without stopping and that they will feel able to join regular Farnham Runnersâ runs, training sessions and races as well as social events”.