Before the jogging boom brought running to the masses, running was a sport for the solitary few. If you raced, you ran as fast as you could and when you trained you endured the strange looks, heckling, and head shaking of people who felt you were the local eccentric.
We’ve come a long way since then! For many runners, especially those new to the sport, running clubs have served as a great motivator and provided a much-needed sense of community. Need a ride to a race? Ask around in your club and you can probably find a way. Looking for a training partner? I bet a running club can find you one! Looking to join a post-race party? If you are in a club you probably won’t have to look far!
Another benefit of belonging to a club: you will have a large group of people to draw from if you are in the mood for a race-centered road trip. Travelling is much more fun if you do it with someone else, and doing it with a group of like-minded people is even better! In fact, we know of at least four running clubs that are travelling from out of town just to participate in the Maritime Race Weekend: members from the Miramichi Run Club, the Well Within Run Club from Truro, the Cape Phlashers in Port Hawkesbury, and the PEI Road Runners will all be journeying to beautiful Eastern Passage for our race. One look at the beautiful scenery of this little-known area and they are soon to come flooding back.
Are you living in the Halifax area and in search of a running club? Here’s a list of local ones to get you started:
Dartmouth
Halifax
Bedford/Lower Sackville
Look them up and you are sure to find a companion or two to share the road with you!