Why running?

As the most popular leisure activity in the UK by some considerable distance running is a sport for all, it dosent matter how fast or slow, young or old, sex, race, religion, political belief or what. Running is absolutely great for achievement, its all about you, whether its for your physical or mental health or both, its a social activity for helping find running mates or even entering an event, parkrun or maybe enjoying all those flashy running trainers.

Is it about speed?

Definitely not, MRC puts no pressure on its runners to run at a certain speed, whether your run-walking or doing a threshold run you have a place with us, people come to MRC for many reasons, you should always have someone to run with and not feel pressured

How do I start?

Simply by turning up at one of our sessions it`s totally FREE you have lost nothing, we make clear which groups are which, if a little worried make yourself known to a run leader. Make sure you are wearing something for comfortable physical exercise and maybe bring something warm and a drink for after, if you havent exercised in a while we advise also consulting your GP.  If your starting C25K it`s very low intensity so dont worry too much you will all be in the same boat together!

Couch to 5K? what is?

Couch to 5k is a ten week process that`s taken the World by storm, its a gentle birth from non-runner to distance runner. Now I say it so many times but a mere 3% of the UK population can run a single mile, IF you stay with us for a wholly supported ten weeks you will be able to run 3.1 miles ! I know it sounds unbelievable but since our inception we have helped over 800 people through C25K in Melton in fact a few of our current Run Leaders I`m proud to say have come through the sytem so to speak. Running is hard to start especially as muscles and breathing adapt but we understand and we will be with you and aid all the way, your progress matters to us!

I cant make the first week of C25Kcan I still come?

Yes, you are welcome any time to join us.

I`m not a Spring chicken anymore!

I have a friend who didn't run his first Marathon til he was 70 (he`s now in his 80`s and still going strong and doing Marathons), if it`s important you`ll give it a go if not you will find an excuse!

I have a disability

Our aim is to be as inclusive as possible, disabilities were would prefer were disclosed (All Run Leaders are bound by confidentiality and safeguarding)to us to help as much as much as we can although we cant force you to tell us.

We have had lots and lots of people run with us who have had secondary Mental health care and benefitted hugely, myself included!  Stress, depression, emotional wellbeing can all be improved by running and a throughly supportive atmopshere, our MH related posts are among our most commented and viewed, certainly no stigma at MRC!

“We have had people run with us who have had secondary mental health issues, diabetes, anorexia, learning disability and visual impairment; we will do our best to help with any barrier to participation.”

Will I lose weight?

We make no excuses that we do a C25k in January each year to go with the good intentions boom. We have some awesome weight loss stories and on a few occasions we have actually made people much younger in doing so!  But running once a week will not get you into those jeans you struggled with last week, there sadly is no instant fix. The difference for me between a jogger and a runner is,a  jogger will run once a week to tick a box there will be no improvement, a runner will run three times a week or more in attempt to improve these, weight`health and fitness being one of these.