Last Tuesday was a bittersweet day for me. I watched as most of my 5k training group from 2011 “graduated” and signed up for our 10K program. I felt just like a mother hen watching her chicks fly off from the nest for the first time. I was so proud of them for taking the next step in their running journey, that leap of faith in their abilities to overcome this new challenge before them. And I remembered meeting them for the first time not even a year ago when they signed up for the 5K group, each taking a chance on their ability to last 3.1 miles.

 

I’ve been coaching our 5K group for 4 years now. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I get to introduce people to so many good things: the joy of running, the camaraderie found in a group of runners, the sheer intoxication of seeing your body get stronger, faster, and yes, even a bit sleeker. There are few things better than watching a person grow stronger in both body and spirit; doing something that they truly never thought they could. And to get to do it with other people who are experiencing the same thing-well, that’s a bonding experience that creates very strong ties between people who had been strangers only weeks earlier.

There are many wonderful things about joining a training group. It takes much of the planning that goes into training off your plate: we’ve figured out how far you have to run, we’ve mapped the run, we’ve marked it, and put water out there for you. All you need to do is show up and well, run, but that’s the fun part, right? We’re here to answer questions, show you how to do what you are going to do, cheer you on, believe that you can do it even when you may doubt it yourself.

And then there’s the best part of the group: the other runners, the people that you will spend time with doing one of the hardest things you’ve ever done in your life. Sharing time like that turns strangers into friends in record time. Knowing that your fellow group members are out there waiting for you when it’s snowing and 17 degrees or sweltering and 90 degrees gets you up and out the door like no other motivation I know. You’re there for each other for every joyous, painful, and sweaty step of the way. They are the ones that truly understand what it took to get to the end of that 5K, 10K, half or full marathon because they trained all those days with you!

Life is all about change. Our spring 5K group kicks off in a few weeks, and I’ll get to meet another group of yet-to know-they-can-run runners. We’ll walk and run, sweat, laugh and maybe even cry as we all become friends, cheerleaders, and athletes. These folks will join the training group because they want to run a 5K; 10 weeks from now, they’ll be transformed by an experience that gave them so much more than that.

Gazelle Girl Vicki