I am moving to Sunnyvale, and I'm looking for a running club. In particular I'm looking for a group to do a Saturday or Sunday morning long run with (10- 15 miles) and perhaps a regular short race, tempo run, or track workout. I do run a lot, but I'm not terribly fast (training pace usually between 8:00 and 9:00) and I'd want to run with people who like to chat during the runs and not try to run each other into the ground. I just like to run and not take it too seriously.
Thanks for your suggestions!
You might like the club I run with ... West Valley Joggers and Striders. Come out for one of our Saturday morning 'workouts' and see if you like it. These are free to anyone and mostly consist of one of a set of road courses (all hilly, all odd distances ie not your standard road course distances) that are run throughout the year. There's also relay races on the track and on the road. I love my Saturday workouts with WVJS.
This morning we ran a track 5000m - how fun is that?! We had 34 runners ranging from 17:07 to 31:15 (75 year old). Anyway, we have runners every Saturday from 16 years old to 80+ years old. All very friendly, with some competitive types and other non-competitive types but everyone enjoys the Saturday morning run and camaraderie. Good luck finding a group to run with - there are quite a few in the Bay Area.
If you happen to be looking for a run farther up the peninsula, you could check out the Palo Alto Run Club, with whom I have run a few times, and my local group, the Coastside Running Club in Half Moon Bay.
http://www.parunclub.com/
http://www.coastsiderunningclub.com/
5/11/24 Grizzly Peak Marathon, Berkeley, CA
7/20/24 Tahoe Rim Trail 56 miler, NV
9/21/24 Mountain Lakes 100, OR
Thanks guys. Both the West Valley Joggers and Striders and the Palo Alto Run Club look promising. I think the Coastside Running Club would be too far away though. I'll try to make it out for a weekend run with those groups. Those Saturday workouts with WVJS look like a lot of fun, and it's not too far from where I live.
Can't go wrong with Palo Alto Run club, very friendly bunch. If you do decide to come for a WVJS Saturday workout let me know when you go and I'll make sure I'm there to introduce you around. I usually go every Saturday except in the Fall. Fall is cross country race season and those are all on Saturdays.
Even if you don't make it out to HMB to run with CRC (8:00 am on a Saturday might be a tad early if you have to drive very far), it's a wonderful place to visit if you're looking to explore the area. Here's a link to the website for the HMB marathon on 9/25/11, and there are lots of photos of the course (follow link at the bottom of the Course page) to entice you to run here. MTA: And to show everyone that once in a while, the sun does burn through the fog.
http://halfmoonbayim.org/