Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

The Road Runners Clubs of America is a way to connect with other runners in your area. I don’t know how all the clubs conduct themselves, but I was involved with the Salt Lake City Track Club, which is an RRCA member and I can tell you it’s worth your while to check out the clubs in your area.

• Road Running Clubs – Find a club in your area

When I decided that I was going to run to keep in shape, I thought that it might help me to run with other runners, so I started attending the Salt Lake City Track Club’s Fun Runs. At the time, one of my clients was the president of this club, which is how I found them. Joining the fun runs was inspiring and shocking to me.

I was running about two miles a day at about 3.5 to 4.0 mph. I weighed 235 pounds. When I showed up to the fun runs, I was surprised. These “fun” runs were 5-8 miles at speeds of about 5.0-8.0 mph. That wasn’t fun to me. That would have been torture.

The president of the club suggested two-mile routes for me to take while they did what I considered a long run. I ended up running alone almost every week unless there was someone who was recovering from a marathon who wanted to take it easy with me.

In some respects, it was humiliating. I was this fat girl, running all alone, instead of with the club. The only time I had company is when one of them was taking it easy. I very quickly realized that I could run alone without going to the fun runs.

In other respects, however, running with the SLC Track Club was truly inspiring to me. I saw Utah’s best runners every week. The dinners after the run, we talked about upcoming races. I learned about qualifying for marathons and about running form. I had role models to look up to and I actually enjoyed my time spent with them.

Whether you are a beginner or have been running for a while, you owe it to yourself to try out your local running club. It will give you people to look up to, events to look forward to and even a little humility about your progress. Plus, there are weekly runs in place with people to exercise with. It’s like having a whole club of running partners waiting for you every week.