Stride Magazine - Winter 2020

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the jogscotland magazine | Winter 2020

Achiever of the Year, Diane Davidson

Meet the 4J Studios jogscotland Annual Award winners Sign up for our Fun, Festive Virtual 5K! “2020 couldn’t stop my half marathon dream…”

Help us to help Scotland Keep on Running jogscotland.org.uk

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2 Our fun, friendly jogging groups are perfect for people who want to get active for the first time, or more experienced runners.

Nobody is “too slow” to join jogscotland – total beginners welcome!

Mums on the Run helps mums enjoy the physical, social & psychological benefits of being active outdoors. You can take your wee one to class with you in the buggy too!

Running has never been so easy!

Whatever your age, whatever your ability Morning, noon and night • Towns, cities, villages Parks, pavements, trails, woodlands, beaches, schools and workplaces For more information visit www.jogscotland.org.uk or call 0131 539 7341 www.facebook.com/JogScotty • www.twitter.com/jogscotland

jogworks

Our Junior jogscotland resource pack is full of games to help you show primary school age children that stride physical activity is fun! jogscotland magazine | Winter 2016

Encouraging employees to be more active makes good business sense. Jogworks can help avoid some of the physical and mental health issues affecting the workplace.

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Meet the Jog Crew

Sue Gyford

Colin Hutchison

Angie Sutherland

Carol Robison

Digital communications and press officer

Head of Development

Coaching administrator (Jog Leader course bookings)

Membership administrator

sue.gyford@ scottishathletics.org.uk 07880 037 574

colin.hutchison@ scottishathletics.org.uk 07983 080 925

coaching@ scottishathletics.org.uk 07393 674 262

Andrea Gavin

Laura Kirkland

Jo Stevens

Community Strides coordinator

Community Strides coordinator

Development officer

andrea.gavin@ scottishathletics.org.uk 07801 634 198

laura.kirkland@ scottishathletics.org.uk 07960 582 838

jo.stevens@ scottishathletics.org.uk 07903 180 453

membership@ scottishathletics.org.uk 07391 845 783

Jog Scotty The Jog Dog! Mascot of jogscotland

Stride – the jogscotland members’ magazine Editor: Sue Gyford

Designer: Adrian Hallam, 3fiftysixmedia Ltd

Photographs: Front cover and p8/9 Diane Davidson – thanks to Bill McBurnie.

P13 – Craig and Robbie Lowrie – thanks to Jade Pringle Photography.

Published by scottishathletics. Copyright©2020 Scottish Athletics Ltd. www.jogscotland.org.uk

www.twitter.com/jogscotland

www.facebook.com/jogscotty

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Welcome!

by Sue Gyford

Stride magazine | Winter 2020 Welcome to the Winter edition of Stride magazine. Since the last issue we’ve gone from virtual runs to being back together in our groups – albeit with rules in place to keep us all safe. Once again we can only praise the hard work and dedication of our jog leaders in keeping up with the ever-changing demands of covid guidelines. Appointing covid coordinators, adopting booking systems, and coping with limited group numbers have all posed their own challenges. We’re so grateful to them for making it all happen, so that our members can once again benefit from running in groups – thank you.

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Jog Leaders of the Year Suzanne Mattison and Alan Falconer

We celebrated our Annual Award winners last month – the ceremony might have been online rather than in person, but we’re just as proud of them all as we are every year! Check out their stories on pages 8-9.

We were also thrilled to receive an award ourselves this year – our Community Strides project, run in partnership with Saheliya, won the Community Sport Champion award at the Scottish Women in Sport Awards. The project has helped bring the joy of physical activity to a group of women from diverse communities in Edinburgh, keeping their spirits up as well as their fitness. We’re thrilled to see the group recognised.

With our Festive, Fun 5K on the horizon, and the Keep on Running campaign to tell you about – as well as real life stories from jogscotland members Tracy Reid and Craig Lowrie, and a new endurance group in Aberdeen – there’s plenty to catch up on in this edition.

Tracy Reid completes

p18 her lockdown half marathon

We wish you all a safe and enjoyable festive period, whatever form it may take this year – thanks to you all for keeping the jogscotland spirit alive and well in 2020! p22 Aberdeen Endurance Joggers

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Sue Gyford, Editor |

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Contents News and events 4J Studios jogscotland Annual Awards Festive Fun 5K Remembering Donna

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Keep on Running

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2020 couldn’t stop my half marathon dream

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Scottish Women in Sport award winners

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Aberdeen Endurance Joggers

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David Syme - Jogging along

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Just click on a title to go straight to the page!

Design: 3fiftysixmedia.com

sponsor and funder jogscotland magazine

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News and events LiRF blended learning We’re delighted to now be offering the Leader in Running Fitness (LiRF) qualification for Jog Leaders in the form of blended learning. In response to this year’s covid restrictions, the coach education team worked hard to make much of the course content available online, with a shorter in-person session, carried out with covid precautions in place. More than 50 new jog leaders have completed the course via blended learning, with the forthcoming courses all fully booked.

A big welcome to our newly-trained jog leaders!

Our spring courses will be advertised in January – keep an eye on the website and social media for details.

Nasreen tells her story During Women and Girls in Sport Week, Nasreen Choudhry of jogscotland group TaySmilers was on the panel for a fantastic online discussion about the impact and importance of physical activity for women and girls in Scotland. The event, organised by Active Scotland, also included athlete Eilidh Doyle among the panellists.

Nasreen, who first discovered jogging through our Community Strides group at Dundee International Women’s Centre, talked passionately about how discovering jogging had changed her life for the better.

Coffee Mornings Having started our online coffee mornings during lockdown, we decided to continue them into the summer, to give people a chance to connect with the jogscotland community as restrictions continued. Sessions included a Q&A with Olympic marathon runner and coach Derek Hawkins (pictured) , a general jogscotland blether, and a dedicated session for Jog Leaders held in partnership with SAMH, on supporting joggers through some of the mental health barriers to a return to running after lockdown. Thanks to everyone who joined us – it was great to chat!

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The Daily Mile jogscotland and scottishathletics have committed to working in partnership on Scotland’s new Daily Mile Nation Strategy.

Established in Scotland in 2012 as a school-based programme, The Daily Mile sees children jog, run, walk or wheel at their own pace for 15 minutes. The activities take place a minimum of three times a week with the aim of improving health and wellbeing. Now the Daily Mile Foundation has developed a strategy to ensure it can be made accessible across Scotland, regardless of ability, age or personal circumstance. Our chief executive, Mark Munro said: “We’re really pleased to be supporting this project and to work in partnership with the Daily Mile Foundation. The vision is to increase opportunities across Scotland to participate and I see that developing into links between Daily Mile organisations, and local clubs and running groups.”

Active Girls Day We had groups and clubs all over Scotland taking part in this year’s Active Girls Day, with virtual events taking place for many. We promoted a selection of challenges, aiming to be inclusive of all abilities, and all levels of covid restriction.

The challenges could be done on your own, as a family/ household bubble or as part of your school/ group/ club.

Organiser Andrea Gavin said: “This year Active Girls Day went virtual, we had groups and clubs across the jogscotland and scottishathletics networks taking part and it was great to know that we had so many folk willing to get active and show support for our active girls.”

Having fun at the Active Girls Day session held by Pitreavie AAC

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4J Studios jogscotland Annual Awards The 4J Studios scottishathletics and jogscotland Annual Awards were held online this year, and while we were all sad not to be able to gather together as usual, it was nonetheless a fantastic chance to celebrate the very best of jogscotland in a year like no other.

Bryan Burnett was our host, and people watching at home were brought into the show as we dropped in photographs and tweets sent from their watch parties and sofas. If you missed the programme you can still watch it online. Meet the winners... jogscotland Achiever of the Year Diane Davidson – Jed Joggers Diane joined Jed Joggers on its first night, initially unsure of her ability – but that soon changed. Running with Ben Smith on his 401 Challenge boosted her confidence so much that she took on Jed Ultra. Since then she has achieved a silver medal in GB Ultra Manchester to Liverpool, completed a 24 hour track event for charity, covering 82 miles, and cross trains for triathlon events.

But she has never forgotten her roots, supports fellow group members, and is working with local schools to encourage young people to get out and running. jogscotland Jog Leader of the Year Alan Falconer and Suzanne Mattison – Inverness jogscotland Alan and Suzanne really excelled during lockdowm. Alan set countless challenges to keep members active and enthusiastic, from running bingo to supermarket sweep.

Meanwhile, Suzanne logged every single mile that was run by members in spreadsheets, a huge task as she calculated group totals: They ran more than 25,000 miles – right around the world. Alan and Suzanne’s constant encouragement meant that members not only endured lockdown, but thrived.

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jogscotland Group of the Year - Jiggly Joggers Jiggly Joggers was founded in 2018 in the East End of Glasgow, to provide an inclusive, non-judgmental group for plus-sized women with little or no running experience. In three years, the group has grown from 10 to 130 members. The majority had not run before but many have now completed their first half marathon.

During lockdown the group held socially-distant relays which raised thousands of pounds for local charities, arranged donations of food parcels to their local food bank, and gave boxes of treats to frontline key workers in local care homes.

Founder Elaine Leitch has received the Glasgow Lord Provost’s special recognition award, and the group has this year been awarded funding from Big Lottery to allow them to expand further.

SAMH Mental Wellbeing Award - Mums on the Run Inverurie Mums on the Run Inverurie has always provided support for new mums to return to exercise safely, and that didn’t change during lockdown.

Weekly online challenges were held, along with virtual social events. Leader Jess Parson (right) encouraged selfcare, engaging with the outdoors and mindfulness. A daylong virtual relay was organised to raise money for a local charity supporting maternal mental health.

More than a running group, it has maternal mental health at the forefront and makes a difference to all the mums who attend, physically, emotionally and socially.

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4J Studios jogscotland Annual Awards As well as our four annual award winners, there were two other nominees on each shortlist, whose achievements we are glad to celebrate.

Achiever of the Year nominees Yvonne Robertson – jogscotland Hazlehead At 72, Yvonne is an amazingly active senior citizen, who cares for others and nurtures everyone, while keeping a razor-sharp wit.

Her love of running was rekindled five years ago, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer - it seemed a good way to keep fit during her treatment and recovery. She says: “When I run, I don’t feel 72, I just feel great, and really enjoy the company I run with.”

Vicky Sharples – Newton Stewart Striders Vicky followed the jogscotland Learn to Run programmes from scratch during lockdown. She can now complete a non-stop 5K – in fact she’s running three of them a week, hitting 60K a month and inspiring others in her group. During lockdown she helped to think up more than 10 different virtual challenges for the group to participate in, keeping others active while they couldn’t meet in person.

Jog Leader of the Year nominees Fran McCulloch (Murray) – East Dunbartonshire Leisure Fran leads three groups across East Dunbartonshire, always looking out for the mental wellbeing of joggers as well as their physical fitness. She has completed four marathons to raise awareness of blood donation, and many of her runners have become donors themselves. She has taught her group that they are capable of far more than they thought, with endless patience.

Paul Wilson – Charter International Run Crew Paul welcomes everyone to his group, including newly-arrived locals, some of whom are going through the refugee or asylum process. He organised a kit amnesty with Springburn parkrun so his joggers could have kit even if they couldn’t afford it themselves. He supports members to connect to their community to reduce isolation, and encourages them to chat about their mental health.

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jogscotland Group of the Year nominees Invergordon Morning Movers This group (top left) really came into its own in February when members discovered while out running together that one of the town’s primary schools was on fire. The teamwork and camaraderie kicked in immediately. Fortunately nobody was injured, and the trauma was made more bearable by the support of the group, an extension of the caring community the group offers week in, week out.

On The Run Cumbernauld On The Run Cumbernauld (top right) has steadily increased membership each year through word of mouth and social media, catering for beginners to advanced runners, across nine separate groups. During lockdown, they used their Facebook group to keep in touch, organising a photo scavenger hunt, virtual relay, fortnightly zoom quiz and regular postings of the jogscotland running programmes.

SAMH Mental Wellbeing Award nominees Chloe Allen – Jog Dalgety Bay Chloe (bottom left) joined Jog Dalgety Bay to improve her fitness, and has gone on to become a jog leader. She has epilepsy but doesn’t let this stop her running with the group, uplifting and inspiring others. When jogscotland teamed up with SAMH, Chloe led the effort to have jog leaders in the group trained in mental health awareness, and is a Mental Health First Aider.

Midlothian Pink Laydeez As well as being a jogging group for women of all ages and fitness levels, the Pink Laydeez (bottom right) provides important emotional support. They spend a lot of their running sessions laughing and chatting, but also discussing the challenges they are facing. During lockdown they missed the camaraderie of the group but were able to find support through some frank online conversations about mental health.

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Join our Virtual

FESTIVE FUN 5K! We’re encouraging everyone to give it a try during the week of 12 – 19 December.

The event is open everyone aged 18+, entries are free, or you can make an optional £2 donation, which will be split between our partners SAMH, and administration costs. You can sign up for the event online and complete it in your own time – just walk, jog or run your 5K. You can even complete it over several days if you prefer. Participants will receive a digital certificate via email to celebrate their achievement. If you want to do it in festive fancy dress, even better!

You can share your achievement with us by posting a photo or a selfie to social media when you complete your challenge (or if you’re really shy, an image from your running app or GPS!). Use the hashtag #jogscotlandFestive5k and tag jogscotland’s twitter, or Instagram accounts, or post it on our facebook page.

We’ll then share some of the images posted on our social media channels and in Stride magazine to inspire others to take part! jogscotland groups are welcome to complete the 5K as part of one of their existing, organised sessions, in accordance with Scottish Government guidelines regarding covid 19 and jogscotland groups. Outwith official sessions, participants must follow Scottish Government household guidelines on gathering sizes. Enter here.

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Remembering Donna

By Craig Lowrie

Robbie and Craig

Robbie and Donna

I was so proud when my son Robbie was chosen to be the Braw Lad at the Galashiels Common Riding in 2019.

But two weeks before it took place, our family was devastated when my sister Donna died in a car accident.

I felt I needed to be the strong one for the family, as I was the dad, the husband, the son, the brother, the uncle, the brother-in-law. I thought if my family thought I was OK, it would help them. People would ask how I was feeling and I’d just smile and say I was good.

Robbie went to all the common ridings around the Borders despite our loss, and following him kept our family busy and got us through the summer. Donna would’ve loved following him round the border towns as he represented his town.

At that stage, I’d been running with the Galavanters for a while – the group’s great fun, with great people, it always gave me company and different sessions, and jog leader Arlene Botha was very encouraging. But after Donna died, I found I couldn’t go running on my own as I’d break down crying, and soon I stopped all together.

Eventually, Raymond Hume from the Galavanters got in touch and asked me back along. I was a bit wary at first as I had lost the bug, and didn’t know if I’d break down at the session. But they got me running again. Even through lockdown Arlene would post weekly sessions on Facebook and most members would do them and post results. This motivated me to go out and do something. I did suffer from depression - and probably still do – but I now use running to clear my mind.

I was always planning to do something in my sister’s memory, but I wasn’t sure what. continues over jogscotland magazine

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Remembering Donna continued Then, when covid arrived, all the common ridings got cancelled. As lockdown started to ease in the summer, I let Robbie know my idea of running a 10K in each town he rode last year to raise money for a charity. We posted on Facebook for ideas.

I noticed some common ridings were raising funds as they still had expenses, even though there were no festivals. We thought it was perfect and decided we’d split the money raised between all towns. We let the people that were donating decide which town they’d like to donate to, so they knew it was going back to their town. If they weren’t into common ridings they could donate to ward 15 at the Borders General Hospital, as my youngest daughter Jorja had received several blood transfusions there when she was younger.

Only 10 days after we put the plan in place was the date of Hawick Common Riding, so I did that on my own. But as the word spread and more people got interested, the support was unbelievable and I started to gather running buddies.

I’m so grateful to everyone who came forward to run with me - past and present principals, committee members, all got behind the idea, and some even presented me with keepsakes like pin badges and festival ties. Having running buddies certainly made it easier.

The toughest day both physically and emotionally was Kelso in the morning and Innerleithen in the afternoon, and finishing the games week run to the sounds of the pipes outside my sister’s house.

There were lots of highlights - running up the toll in Selkirk was great, and crossing the Tweed in Peebles. The best had to be running the Gala day route something I’ve always wanted to do is ride the Gala day and I guess this is as close as I get unless I overcome my fear of horses!

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The family, with Craig (back left) and Donna (back right)

Craig and family

My mum and dad have been great, they’ve made it to every run and my daughter Katie has been brilliant support travelling to each run with me.

When we first came up with the idea, we thought we could raise roughly £100 for each town but we’ve raised almost £8000 in total. Not just the general public, but local businesses have donated as well. Borders.co.uk bought me new trainers and supplied running T-shirts, R&L taxis also offered to replace my worn out trainers. Tesco Galashiels raised £450 and donated Haribos, blister packs and water, the filling station in Selkirk also donated 100 bottles of water.

I had no idea how big it was going to get. What was meant to be a 10k road run turned into running the festival routes as much as possible without entering fields. I didn’t actually realise I was giving people an alternative festival day and the crowds that came out were unbelievable and all adhering to government guidelines which was brilliant. I got to see a lot of towns’ historical viewpoints, which I never normally see.

I was nominated for a Pride of Britain award and made the final four in the Fundraiser of the Year category, and was also awarded the Community Champion award by the Galashiels and District Rotary Club.

Hopefully I’ve made my wee sister proud and also gave people something good to remember from the 2020 festival season. I’ve been totally blown away how much it brought everyone together in such strange times – I thought I was just running. jogscotland magazine

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Keep on Running jogscotland and scottishathletics launched the Keep on Running campaign this autumn, to help new and aspiring runners find the jogging groups and athletics clubs that can welcome them.

We know many people took the chance to get active during lockdown, and we want to help them stay that way by linking them up with their local groups and clubs.

At the same time, we know that our groups are returning to activity at different paces.

Some are making the most of government guidelines, which (at the time of writing) allow them to run in groups of up to 15 adults with covid safety precautions in place.

Some are able to welcome new members, while others are focusing on making sure their existing members have the chance to run regularly. Yet others, we know, are waiting until things are a little more normal before they get back to group activity.

So we have invited groups and clubs that are able to welcome new runners to become part of the Keep on Running campaign. Groups that sign up will be listed on the Keep on Running page of our website, so that potential new members can find them.

For new runners, it means they know they can get straight to a group that is able to welcome them, and is taking precautions to make their group runs covid safe.

Win win!

So far around 70 groups and clubs have signed up, and the door is always open to more. There are even some welcoming virtual members from anywhere in the country, so if there’s not a group near you, you can still enjoy the online camaraderie that you’d get from being part of an in person group, while completing virtual challenges and getting support and encouragement from jog leaders or coaches.

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17 Groups that take part will benefit from publicity generated by jogscotland and scottishathletics to direct new members to their groups, and we’ve created a page full of resources to help them promote themselves in their area. We do of course understand that life is not straightforward at the moment, and if any groups or clubs want to put their participation on hold or withdraw from the campaign at any point, that’s fine too.

Find out more at the Keep on Running page of our website.

If you are a jog leader you can sign up to take part, or take a look at the resources available, by visiting the Keep on Running Resources page.

Going it alone For people who prefer to exercise on their own, our jogging programmes are now available free of charge online. Published in response to lockdown, they start with our Learn to Run programme – which progresses at about half the speed of most couch to 5Ks so is very achievable.

A series of 10 week programmes all the way up to 10K can be downloaded from our website. There’s also a Walk for Fitness programme for folk who want to make the most out of their exercise but don’t want to jog, or would like a gentler lead-in before starting the Learn to Run sessions. Find out more on the Learn to Run or Walk for Fitness page of the website!

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2020 couldn’t stop my half marathon dream By Tracy Reid

Like so many people, I once felt I didn’t have the time to exercise – I worked lots of hours and was based on the road in my previous job.

In late July 2019, one of the directors from my new job asked us to enter a 5K around Arthur’s Seat as a team bonding exercise. At this point I probably couldn’t even walk 5K, so a change was required.

I knew of the JS@Meadowmill Group, but had been too anxious to join – I shouldn’t have been.

I plucked up the courage and was welcomed into the group with open arms (pre Covid-19!) I will never forget my first session – struggling with 90 per cent walking and some jogging from one lamp post to the next. But I stuck with it.

Before lockdown came along, I was running with jogscotland, doing parkruns, some gym classes – all big changes for me. Our jog leader, Terry Kirkwood, would often pace and talk many of us round parkrun to chase PBs. One day, after yet another PB, we agreed that managing a half marathon by year end was definitely doable. I reckoned I could finish in 2hr 45m – although anything under 3 hours would be a result.

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19 But when Covid hit, I thought: “Well, there goes that dream…”

Little did I know.

I’d made many friends through jogscotland and parkrun, and I knew although I was now running alone, there was always someone I could turn to, so I carried on running.

In June I had a bit of a meltdown, struggling, my mojo had gone. I messaged Terry, who had been keeping in touch with me during lockdown. He reminded me that just getting from A to B was a target and not to be hard on myself, a run is still a run.

The relaxing of lockdown rules was a blessing – many called friends or family for coffee – not me, I was straight onto the jog leaders and my running friends to see if they would be willing to run as per the guidelines and so was born our own small ‘Runner Beans’ group.

I felt I was back at the stage where I’d been when I first started. But once again the mental health support from our jog leaders kicked in. I was reminded of the extenuating circumstances caused by lockdown, and reminded to just focus on what could be done safely. This really helped, it gave me the self-belief that some sort of normality could be maintained – but for me, the dream of a half this year was still gone.

Terry, and the rest of our Jog Leaders, know of the importance of looking after their members, helping them to reach their goals, even if it means giving up more and more of their free time.

One Sunday morning in August, Terry arranged for an eight mile trail run as a change. I took it on – at this point I had not run more than five or six miles! But I did it! I felt amazing.

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One night, I asked if anyone fancied a run the next morning probably about 10K, and Terry ‘obliged’ – I thought he was probably feeling sorry for me as no-one else was available.

We set off, me determined that I would rock this 10K. A bit like Forrest Gump, we ran, and ran. I’m sure Terry planned what was to come. He’s always risk assessing our ability throughout, and felt I was managing comfortably, so we carried on. We even ‘ran’ into Tony Singh MBE at mile five - we weren’t shy obviously asking for a selfie with him!

At nine miles, we were a mile from our start/finish. Terry gave me the option of one mile to finish or 4.1 miles to do the ‘half’. He said he would only have asked if he knew I was capable and fit enough. Out of sheer determination I said yes.

Terry was like a mobile food station with gels and drinks on hand all the way.

On I went, focussed on those last few miles, then, the watch said 13.1 miles....... yabbadabbadoo! I did it!

This encapsulates jogscotland for me – the power to support, train, encourage, the friendship, and the physical and mental health it provides, helping me be the person and the runner I am today.

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Scottish Women in Sport award winners We’re delighted that our Saheliya Community Strides project was recognised at this year’s Scottish Women in Sport awards. The project won the Active Scotland – Community Sport Champion – Senior award for its work to help women from diverse communities in Edinburgh benefit from being active.

Project lead Andrea Gavin took the group online during lockdown, with a focus on mental, as well as physical, wellbeing. The group was part of the wider jogscotland Community Strides project, supported by the Changing Lives Fund, and was run in partnership with Saheliya, a specialist mental health and wellbeing support organisation for black, minority ethnic, asylum seeker, refugee and migrant women and girls.

It was one of four winners from the world of athletics and running, with athletes Laura Muir and Kayleigh Haggo also picking up honours, and the scottishathletics 4J Studios Virtual SUPERteams event being recognised for innovation.

We also saw Nicola Moriarty, jog leader and coach at Pitreavie AAC, shortlisted for the Tru Wealth Volunteer of the year award, and Nasreen Choudhry of jogscotland TaySmilers, shortlisted for Most compassionate Role Model of the Year.

As well as celebrating the awards winners, the event featured conversations with Boston Marathon pioneer Kathrine Switzer and with the first female President of Cricket Scotland, Sue Robertson. - You can watch the awards online.

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In it for the long haul – Aberdeen Endurance Joggers

By Christine Appel The Granite City’s newest jogscotland group, Aberdeen Endurance Joggers, is thriving. The group aims to bring together jogscotland runners from all over the City & Shire for weekend outings a bit longer than their home groups offer.

The group’s founder, Raymond Davidson, was chatting with pals during lockdown and they spotted what they saw as a gap in the market: No place for Aberdeen’s jogscotland runners already able to run 4 or 5 miles continuously to take their mileage up a bit – or run regularly at weekends – while still staying within what he calls ‘the jogscotland family’.

Two months after their first run, Raymond says the new group is going ‘really well’, with around 40 runners joining them regularly and about 80 registered on Wix, the app they use to book places. They are able to draw from a pool of 20 jog leaders.

Raymond is very clear that Aberdeen Endurance Joggers has its own identity, and isn’t out to compete with existing jogscotland groups: it’s all about bringing the members, leaders and strengths of the individual clubs together.

As he says: “Most jogscotland members wouldn’t normally run with other jogscotland groups. We’d see them at races and give them a nod, but that’s not happening now. But in the last few weeks, members of jogscotland groups in Portlethen, Westhill, Rosemount, Bridge of Don, Hazlehead and Torry have all run with us.”

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On any given weekend, Aberdeen Endurance Joggers offers its members several runs of different distances and paces in several different locations.

As Raymond explains, “It’s up to our leaders to decide and announce the time, meet point, pace and distance for the run. Recently we had three different runs on Sunday alone: 5 miles at Seaton Park, 8 miles at Westhill and 10 miles at Hazlehead.”

With no races on the horizon at the moment, the longest run currently offered tops out at about 10 miles, but Raymond expects that will change when and if marathons and half marathons appear again.

Regardless of distance, all runs are taken at an ‘easy pace’, with a ratio of 12 runners to one coach, and with regular regrouping to suit the slower runners.

“There’s no pressure to chase after the leader,” Raymond says.

To make sure every runner runs at a pace that is comfortable for them, members slot themselves into one of three pace groups: the green or ‘introduction’ group (11:40-13:45 minute/mile); the amber group (10:35–12:20 minute/mile); and the red group (around 9:00–11:10 minute/mile).

Raymond’s plan is for the group to grow organically, but ‘not too fast’. In time, he’d like to offer speed work on a track or hill reps in addition to the weekend runs, but is equally determined that the group should ‘walk before we can run’.

Over time, Davidson, CIRF level 2 qualified himself, also hopes to expand the number of coaches available to his runners, to help those who want to improve and work on training plans. He’d particularly like some of those future coaches to come up through the group’s own ranks.

But there’s no doubt he’s delighted with the success of Aberdeen Endurance Joggers so far: “It’s great to see people posting right after one session that they’re already looking forward to the next.”

This article originally appeared in RunABC Scotland and is reproduced with thanks. jogscotland magazine

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stride

Winter 2020

24

Jogging along

by David Syme

Dear Santa….

We had wonderful spring, a wet summer, a windy autumn and winter is here. Joggers might think: that’s enough for this year, I’ll wait until the warmer weather. I suggest they keep going, unless conditions become dangerously icy. Running in winter is invigorating! Paths are quieter, and in a pandemic there are no better alternatives for healthy exercise. I subscribe to the view that there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. So, dear Santa, can I please have….

Safety kit: For safety we should all make sure we can be seen in dark or twilight. There are many runners’ headtorches and the like on the market; I like the cheaper offerings in pet shops. Don’t think you have to pierce a waterproof membrane to attach a light to a cagoule – readerest magnets fore and aft with flashing lights attached can have you easily seen by others.

Santa, please give me scarf tubes… or buffys… or neck gaiters.. the world has not yet decided on the correct name. These are usually ultra-light microfibre tubes which have such a variety of uses that it is sometimes a good idea to start out with two or three of them.

They can cover head, neck, ears, forehead, hands…. and if you don’t need them as you warm up they will slip over the wrist. These days they can also function as mouth masks.

Now Santa, if you have heard me hint that a new cagoule would be a welcome gift, please send one which can be stuffed into one of its own pockets and fastened round the waist with its own strong belt. If I start out with it on and become too warm, I want to be able to fasten it in a neat pouch high on the waist, and not dangling behind me like half a kilt.

There are some excellent, inspirational monthly magazines for runners. Much of their content is to do with high performance, but the humblest of joggers can draw encouragement and advice from their pages. A year’s subscription would be very nice, Santa.

It may sound daft, Santa, but I need plenty of running socks. If I feel flat-footed on a succession of jogs, I know that a new pair of socks will go a long way towards recovering my running mojo. And Santa, please not a bargain of 5 pairs for £6…. I want proper running socks labelled L and R, if you don’t mind.

If you are writing to Santa, please ask him (or is it her?) to use local running shops. They are all staffed by runners who give expert guidance and allow you to “test drive” shoes. We need these shops, and they need us.

stride

jogscotland magazine

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Winter 2020

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