On Saturday 4th June I spent all day attending a Leadership in Running Fitness course.
I had been thinking for ages that I would like to get the Southville Snails registered as a proper running club even though we are so tiny. The best way seemed to be to do a Leadership in Running Fitness course which, assuming I completed it successfully and also had a DBS check, would mean that I could register the Snails as a Run England group. So back in March I handed over my money to English Athletics and just waited until the day eventually arrived.
I hate to be late for anything so ended up arriving at the venue about 30 minutes before the course was due to start but I wasn’t the first person there. By five minutes to nine all twenty five of us had arrived and were settled down with tea and coffee so we could start promptly at nine. The course was run by to lovely women, Peg and Kerry, who are both English Athletics coaches.
One of the first things we had to do was write on a ‘post-it’ note why we wanted to do the course, then we were invited to stick the notes on the wall. Soon we were being given random notes so that we had to find the person who had written it and chat to them to find a little more about them. It was a great ice-breaker. There was a real mix of ages and backgrounds and people had come from all over the area. I was certainly one of the oldest but had enough running experience not to feel an imposter although some people there had run ultras and several had done multiple marathons. Every one was very friendly and supportive.
During the day we had several short theory sessions that covered everything from safety, motivation, warm-ups, cool downs, organisation of groups, instruction and explanation and some theory behind running and the energy systems used by the body. I’ve probably missed a bit as we covered a lot. Fortunately thee was a workbook and I made lots of notes. we will also get access to online coaching information as soon as we receive our licence. It was all very interesting and I learned a lot.
We also did several practical sessions where we were spilt into small groups and had to take turns at being the group leader. In the morning we concentrated on warm-ups, running technique, cool down and stretches. It was great to hear other peoples ideas and share some of my own. Most of the other students were already working with groups in their various running clubs so there was a lot to discuss. In the afternoon we were split into groups of four and we had to all be involved in organising a complete session involving warm-up, main session, and cool down. We would have two other groups to be our athletes and then we were their athletes when it was their session. It was great fun but quite tiring to be running around so much on what had turned out to be a very warm day. Much as I enjoyed it I was quite glad when it was time to return to the classroom and I could have a coffee and a sit down. There was then a bit more theory and discussion before we finished at 5pm.
Just before we finished the local Run England representative came to tell us about all the things that they can do to assist us in setting up running groups. As soon as my DBS check has been completed I will get my licence and can then seek her help in getting the Snails set up as an official Run England group. We will be listed on their website and hopefully will get a few more members. We don’t want to be a huge group as we want to stay a nice friendly and supportive group who can have fun together but it would be nice to have a few more members.
the southville snail 