Back to the Basics
About a month ago, I joined my local track / running club. I had been avoiding track workouts for a long time, and finally decided that I needed a community.
This club was started years ago by the late U.S. Marathon Champion and Colorado Running Hall of Famer Jane Welzel. She wanted to create a fun, family friendly environment that fostered a place in the running world for everyone. And that’s exactly what the Fort Collins Running Club is all about.
Each Tuesday night, rain or shine (or cool, clear dusk), we meet at the track or area park for various interval workouts. Sometimes it’s 800 repeats, or 1200s, sometimes it’s relay races, or timed miles. The age range is from 15 to 70, and the pace is just as varied.
The club also puts on a race series called Tortoise and Hare. These races are bare bones, no swag, no packet pick-up, no frills. Just $25 for the entire series. You show up race morning and run, and stick around after for coffee and bagels. The slower runners (tortoises) start first, and the faster runners (hares) chase. Your start time and predicted finish are determined by your previous race. If you beat your predicted time, you earn points.
This weekend was the kick-off race. Just a 4K on a brisk sunny morning. I had a lot of biking on my legs, so I didn’t run impressively (6:58 pace), but I beat my predicted time by 2 seconds, so I’ll take it. We’ll race each month through April, with distances that grow to 12K.
I like the simplicity of it all. I like the idea of getting back to doing something for the sake of getting better. I like the community of kids, parents, recent college-grads, and older adults. I like that we don’t need t-shirts and pint glasses and race bibs. Just a simple timing chip on the shoe, a couple of cones at the turn-around, and pushing yourself.
