So, you’ve done it!  You’ve made it off the couch, overcome the challenges and made it to 5k, but what next?  What can you do to build on your new-found fitness?  Fortunately, there are a number of options.

Join a club!  Although this can seem incredibly daunting it’s really not that bad.  I can remember being encouraged to join a club and resisting for months because I was convinced that I would turn up to find an army of “lycra warriors” with the pace of Mo Farah who would politely let me hold them up or zoom off into the distance while I got lost.  I couldn’t have been more surprised when I joined and found that there really were people of all abilities and that the sessions catered for that.  Being part of a club has many advantages: different sessions help to build you into a stronger runner, it increases your confidence and provides the support that we all need to keep on running.  Within Romsey there are two running clubs: Romsey Road Runners and Halterworth Harriers.  Further afield there are many other clubs including Eastleigh Running Club, Itchen Spitfires, Hedge End Running Club, Lordshill Road Runners and Solent Running Sisters. The choice is yours but some questions to consider when choosing a club may include: location (is it close to where you work or live?); time of training sessions (do the training sessions work with commitments you already have?) and friends (do you know anyone already at the club?).  Often clubs will offer trial sessions before you become a member so why not take advantage of that? 

Parkrun - in their own words - are free, weekly, timed 5k runs that are open to everyone. Starting at 9am on Saturday mornings, they take place in many parks across the country.  Although there are quite a few to choose from, the closest ones are Southampton Common and Fleming Park.  All you need to do is go on their website http://www.parkrun.org.uk/ , sign up, choose a location and off you go.  Again, these really do cater for all abilities and are a fantastic way to keep up your running and see if you can knock a few seconds off your time.

Sign up for a race. Races, although these sound daunting, are for all abilities and can help to keep you motivated by presenting you with the opportunity to set yourself new goals and achieve more that you thought that you were capable of (they often give you medals too!).  Races can be found on the following (and some other) websites https://www.runbritain.com/races and https://www.runnersworld.co.uk/events .  Training plans can also be found online to help you to prepare.

Run with friends.  Set a time, plan a route and do it.  Running with friends increases the likelihood of you continuing with your running not only because it makes it more enjoyable but also because you will support each other to keep at it.

To complement your running, you may like to consider activities such as Crossfit, Pilates or Yoga.  These can improve speed, flexibility and strength.  Some programmes can even be followed in the comfort of your own home!

We’d love to see you join Romsey Road Runners but whatever you choose to do have fun and we wish you all the best!