Last week I rejoined Cornwall Athletic Club after a gap of
some twenty years. I have been meaning to get back into running for
several years and, this year, finally made use of the summer months to actively
find the time to do it and to make going for a short run part of my daily
routine. Athletics and cross country running was my childhood passion and
I continued to compete as part of the Cornwall county cross country team until
my late twenties. Work ended up crowding out the time I had for running
and, with the exception of a brief period when I trained for a marathon about
six years ago, I struggled to keep it up and my fitness ebbed away.
The great thing about running as a sport is that everyone
can find their own level and compete against the time they themselves got the
previous week or month. It is also open to all ages with many races now
offering results for age groups in five yearly bands from junior categories right
up to over seventy fives - I have just tipped into the 45-50 age group.
It is also a great way to keep fit. A growing number of primary
schools in the area are signing up to the national campaign to run a "mile
a day" which is a brilliant way for children to start their school day.
The sport has seen a transformation in the last fifteen
years. The number of members of Cornwall Athletic Club has grown
exponentially. In addition, locally we have new road running clubs like
Carn Runners and Hayle Runners who also boast large and growing memberships.
We have also seen developments like the "Park Run" movement
which now stages 5k fun runs nationally every Saturday. I recently went
to the 10th anniversary of the original Park Run in Bushy Park which attracted
over 1200 runners. It was my first race for years and I had to buy a new
Cornwall AC vest having "outgrown" the last one. I managed to
get around in 21.05. Not bad for a start after such a long break, even if
it's five minutes slower than I would have done twenty years ago!
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