As a fairly experienced runner, joining a run club never really appealed to me, however I attended a run club last week and these are my main takeaways.
The Run Dusty Club in Sheffield has built up a great local community, partnering with local breweries across the city to offer the runners a pint to congratulate their club members on completing their weekly run.
On their website they say: “We are Run Dusty Sheffield, a social-run club that supports local, independent breweries, bars, and pubs.
“We welcome runners of all abilities and always finish at a brewery, bar or pub, where we reward ourselves with a post-run beer (or few).”
Being a fan of both beer and running, I decided to join on a 5K run last Thursday (11/05/24) with the blue skies of early summer encouraging me to step outside of my comfort zone and join.
As someone who often runs longer, whenever I run at 5km I always try to be fast, aiming to shave away seconds in the hope of getting closer to that sub-20 minutes 5k.
While this is equally a great feeling, it often means I run solo, intensely and with music blasting in my ears.
The Run Dusty Club has a different take on running, the session had around 60 members of all different ages, genders, abilities and most noticeably level of running gear.
Having turned up in my bright yellow football shirt on and a go-pro tied to my chest, perhaps I set myself up to look and feel a bit like a lemon.
The session started at 7pm and was structured with a roughly 30-minute run in a figure of eight loop around two local parks in the afternoon sun. We were told we could run at any speed we felt comfortable with and the rough route.
When setting off, there was a member of staff leading the run at a comfortable but challenging speed, a few staff in the middle and then some staff at the end of the pack to help lead and encourage anyone who was struggling.
I enjoyed the run, while it wasn’t particularly fast for me, it was a different challenge being a social run, because… well… I had to talk a lot.
Having always focused on my breathing, talking whilst running was a different experience, you couldn’t time your breaths at all but it also distracted me from the distance and pace. I felt that I was just having a natter with some friends.
Also, people in the parks interacted with us a lot.
From kids pointing and laughing at 60 brightly coloured runners, to families who encouraged us to keep going while having their picnic. I was even offered a sausage by one particularly merry student having an alcohol fuelled BBQ. It was lovely!
The run flew by, not on my apple watch and I didn’t chip away at my best 5k time, but it felt great. I wanted to keep going by the time we reached the brewery again.
When finishing we got our choice at some local pints, it was at a place called ‘The Perch Brewhouse’ and my chosen reward was a half pint of a Blueberry pale ale… it tasted like liquid gold.
I was apprehensive at the start to socialise after a sweaty run but it ended up being the best part. In an environment where we all shared a common interest the conversations came easy, with run as a good starting point, but everyone seemed to share a bigger love for the outdoors.
I got some great suggestions on running routes, hiking routes, and even cycling routes. Tips and tricks from people with way more years of experience running than me and just a genuinely lovely group of people.
We all shared that natural high of going on a run and the hardship of the run made us feel closer already.
I enjoyed it and found myself heading home at 9pm with two extra pints inside me and a whole load of new Strava followers blowing up my last run to something my Strava has never seen… 12 likes!
I will be returning in two weeks to try it again. Not just for the beer, but for the run too!
My three Tips:
- Go with a Friend! It makes the initial socialising a lot easier and gives you an easy option to socialise in between pints.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re anxious or unsure about anything, ask a member of staff. They’re there to help.
- Find more routes. Finding good or flat routes in cities can be hard, there is no better way to find better routes than to ask other runners their best routes in your city.
