To Join or Not To Join?
Running and walking can be lonely sports. A team isn’t required in order for you to be a walker or a jogger, but are there benefits to running and walking with other people? If you join a running club or a group run, what positive impact will that have on you and your running journey?
We wholeheartedly say YES, there are tremendous benefits to joining a running group!
Why Joining a Running Group Can Help you Achieve Your Goals
Maybe you’re already achieving some of your goals for 2023 when it comes to running and walking. If that’s true for you, keep up the good work! But even if you’re not so pleased with your current progress, don’t lose hope. We’re here to help you get motivated, and one of those ways involves a running group. At St. Pete Running Company, we believe that a running community truly offers benefits for you that can lead you to finding success.
Check out these 7 benefits to joining a running group.
- Find Your Get Up and Go – If you find yourself struggling to get up and go, a running group can improve your drive to achieve through accountability. If someone is cheering you on right by your side, it’s a place you’ll be eager to come back to again and again.
- Make a Friend or Two – One of the best aspects of joining a running group is making connections, meeting other walkers and runners, and even forming lasting friendships. Getting connected means you get the opportunity to grow with someone else on this journey.
- Goals Become Attainable – Are your goals realistic? It can be helpful to ask other people who are trying to accomplish similar things. Plus you might discover that you are even more capable of something than you first thought with a running group to encourage you.
- Gain Perspective – Your current goals just might evolve and change into new goals. At times, having a group run can be a wonderful place to reevaluate where you are at and get advice from those who have been there, done that.
- Get Steady – Is the uphill climb of stop/start exercise draining you? Then join a regular running group or running club to help you approach running and walking with consistency. When you’re consistent, it becomes less and less hard. And you don’t have to be fast! A running group will likely have someone at your speed.
- Keep Learning – The people you meet will likely inspire and inform you. That means you’ll learn something! A running group can bring you into a shared space with people who are where you want to be someday in terms of their running abilities and accomplishments. It’s great to learn how others got there!
- Don’t Survive, Thrive – When you own something, it becomes yours. So go ahead and speak up about your goals and don’t be afraid to ask for help. We need each other. With a running group, you don’t have to slog through running and walking like a chore, but it can become your new favorite activity.
Come Join Us at Community Group Run
For those in the Tampa Bay area who are seeking a group to run with, look no further! We have a FREE Group Run every Monday and Thursday at 6:30 PM that starts at St. Pete Running Company. We head out for a casual walk/jog of typically 3 miles, but each person decides how far they’d like to go. All levels are welcome to join. You can bring strollers, and well-behaved dogs who are on a leash are also permitted. Plus bring family, friends, or come alone and make some new friends! This is a very friendly and welcoming group.
Do you have more questions about the benefits of a running club? We can help! Call or come into the store where our shoe and running experts are ready to provide the high-quality customer service you expect from a Top 50 Running Store in America.
