Athenas and Clydesdales (Read 1110 times)

Sounds like it's time to find a new club that is more accepting of all types of runners.

I find my running club to be more of a running clique than a club. I had an idea for a race series in my area in 2006 or 2007 and was invited by the local running club to come to a metting so it could be discussed. (our running club is the only one in town and they put on and/or help direct 98% of the races in our area.) I went to two meetings without the subject ever coming up and really felt out of place. Barely anyone came up to me and my wife to introduce themselves, find out about us, etc. Needless to say the idea was put on the backburner and was never really brought up again. Well, here we are in 2008 and lo and behold, there is a new race series coming up this summer and fall!! You would have thought I would be contacted for some input since the original ideas was mine. But no, no phone call, email, message on the message board. So, I do not think I will be participating. I think the majority of running clubs out there are probably good ole boy clubs. If you have a choice in your area you are lucky. Me, I have but one, and I do not really see myself joining.

I went to two meetings without the subject ever coming up and really felt out of place. Barely anyone came up to me and my wife to introduce themselves, find out about us, etc. Needless to say the idea was put on the backburner and was never really brought up again..

Your experience with a running club is, i think, all too common. I've belonged to several running clubs in different cities in different parts of the country, and one of the trademarks of ALL the clubs have been cliqueishness and utter lack of socializing ability or even basic interaction--Not so much from the regular folks who just come out to run or to race, but from the club "officers" and "board members." They are like members of the Misfits Club or something. Weirdos. Don't know why that is, but it definitely is. My advice--steer clear of the actual politics/organization/power freaks of running groups and just hang with the runners. To the original poster, I would agree with the person who advised you to leave the group. I bet there's a support group for people who are overweight and trying to get in shape near you. Join that, trim down, get fast, and then go back and beat the social retards of that so-called "running group."

Can you start your own club? I mean, as an officer of your current club, you most likely know how to make that type of group run. Just a thought. We have a small running club in my town but I'm not a member. I know some of the members from work and they are pretty nice, but I'm not at a point where I want to join.

Had a similar experience. Ran with a club for several months, which was basically me running by myself when everyone except the club mentor ran up ahead way faster than me. This was a club that advertised as "all abilities" but I was the only newbie at the time and the slowest runner there. They'd all give words of encouragement and then take off without me. After a while, I just quit going, but kept running. FWIW, I don't think they're necessarily wrong for their actions. I don't think it's fair to expect folks to dump a training run for me just because I'm slow (although the support is nice). Some clubs are more geared toward newer/slower runners and that's great. It just doesn't seem like you've found one. I also don't think that you're having a hard time being accepted in the running world, you're just having a hard time finding someone of similar abilities and goals that you can run comfortably with. Do some solo running, keep your eye out and I'll bet a nickel you'll at least find a running partner fairly soon. Good article on this subject in this month's Runners World.

You know, I found the same thing in my first forays out to running groups -- it would say "all paces welcome" and then I'd be left in the dust, with no one at my pace, and I'd feel like an idiot for going there, even when people were nice! I suspect we all go out once or twice, and find no one to run with, and never go back. If we all kept going back, we'd find each other! That said, a couple of things worked for me: Although I had no plans to run a marathon or half-marathon, as a frustrated newbie a running friend suggested I check out the marathon training groups. Lots of them (I went to the local chapter of USAFit) have people at pretty slow paces, and the organized group was a good way to ramp up my running in a schedule manner. And despite myself I ended up running the half! But you sure don't have to. Another great resource is Meetup. I notice a lot of informal Meetup.com running groups around my 'hood which are just things like "let's all meet at this location and run to here and back". You can even start your own and publicize it with flyers at the local running stores and gyms, grocery store bulletin boards and such. If you have a YMCA, sometimes they have running groups. And I've also found people training for triathalons may be fast swimmers, but slower runners. Charity groups like Team in Training tend to attract beginners, and signing up for the super-local fun runs and being friendly is also a great idea, which someone mentioned above, since those are likely to be folks in your 'hood. Finally, when you get to all these groups and find your running buddies, each run, look around and find the new person who feels even less like they belong there than you, and give them props. This is huge. Even when I've run alone because my pace doesn't match anyone else (sometimes I'm between groups, even!), there's still the camaraderie at the start, sometimes even at the end, which makes all the difference.

This isn't directed towards anyone specific but why expect faster people to slow down? They're training too. I can understand helping the newer people for a run once a week or something but an entire group cannot possibly run at the pace of the slowest runner am I right? People just have to find runners or running groups with people who run at their same pace. That's probably the best bet. I still run a bit slow for the longer distances but for medium distance runs I run with a running group which I didn't join until this year because I spent the last year training to be a little faster so I could be a part of the team. For me to be apart of there team. Not them be a part of mine. Like I said, I'm still a little slower but I can push a bit harder for the medium distance runs and for my half way point in a marathon I did in December I got 1:49 which isn't bad. I'm working on getting better and better so I can run the longer runs with them also. I think it's up to us to get to where we want, not others to put themselves on hold for us. That's how I feel. But a running club that advertises a certain way I might feel differently about that. Anyways good luck to us all. It takes a long time to increase speed but slowly but surely it's worth it to me.