Our new 2020/21 Committee – part two!

CLUB SECRETARY – Julie Graham

Hi, I am Julie.

I have been a member of SJ since June 2016 when I joined pure beginners with Lisa and Caroline. Having always said I could never run, I decided to challenge myself. With Lisa’s enthusiasm and Caroline’s Irish miles I completed my first 5k. From there I went on and, can still be seen at most Tuesday night club runs and most social events which are always highly entertaining even if I am made to dress up as pumpkin for Halloween!!

Honestly, joining the SJ family is one of the best things I have ever done. Not only did I find a hobby that would help me to get fit, but I joined an amazingly supportive group and have made friends for life. When the opportunity presented itself, with a very persuasive nudge from Lisa, I was only to pleased to put my name forward for the secretary’s post. I see the amazing hard work that all the committee do to make Sandhurst Joggers the inclusive, friendly club that it is.

Having been accepted to the post is a privilege. I now have an opportunity to give something back to the club, which I will endeavour to do to the best of my ability and support all the committee members and the club as a whole, within this role. There is a lot to learn, but I really welcome the challenge and hope to make it a lot easier than I seem to make running. 

Thanks to the committee for their warm welcome and patience while I get to grips with everything.

See you all soon. Take care, stay safe.

Julie

PUBLICITY – Jim Haffey

Hi there, it seems a little odd introducing myself now having been compiling and posting the Joggers Journal since Christmas Day when I took over from Nick.

I started running about 3 years ago after a couple of accidents kept me off cycling for a good while but I wanted something to keep my fitness going. Within the audax world (which was my type of cycling) I would ride events from 200km to 600km at least each month to claim what was known as a Randonneur Round the Year award. Alas I was hooked by the running with the added bonus of no punctures or catastrophic mechanical failures!

After a year of doing my own thing and entering events I joined Sandhurst Joggers but probably did not do much with the club until early last year. I took part in more club runs/events (loved Endure 24) and began a slightly more active role when Dave Bartlett, (embarrassingly for us guys), pointed out that every run leader one Tuesday evening was female! He asked some of us to step up and help and I am looking forward to be able to do so again soon when we can once again run together!

As for the blog, I really enjoy the statistics side especially being an avid parkrun advocate and getting people to regale us with their stories of events is a real satisfaction. At present it is a struggle with the blog but when we are back in full flow there will be some more meaningful content and I am going to be engaging with you wonderful lot to see what can be added.

My favourite SJ day? I appreciate and love what all the GMs do but Swinley Forest on a Sunday is tops for me but having read Katie’s profile (below) I need to get out on a Thursday…..

TUESDAY GM – Janet Venables

I volunteered to be Sandhurst Joggers Tuesday GM because I am always around on Tuesday evenings and there is always a lot of running to be done; I want to be involved in keeping it all going, especially in these unusual times. 

SJ Tuesday Club Night is described on the website; in usual times we organise 6 or more paced groups each with a Leader and Sweeper and a Looping policy. We begin the session at 6.30 with Club Introductions and Announcements and then we announce Groups and Leaders and invite runners to run in the group of their choice. 

I will (try to!) continue Dave Bartlett’s great online organisation; so, early on Tuesday mornings, through email and Facebook, I will ask for volunteers to lead a group of their choice and feedback via the ‘Tuesday Leaders’ that Dave set up on Messenger. 

Until recently I have been running regularly with SJs: on Mondays with the Monday 

Sociable Group, on Tuesdays with any paced group that will have me, and Intervals (until the start time changed 😌) also, I have run 224 ParkRuns. 

I have loved MY running and last year I decided to teach myself to run properly; I did the ‘Leadership in Running Fitness’ course and then plucked up courage to become one of Tuesday’s Run/Walk Group Leaders. I was very actively developing routes in Sandhurst and Crowthorne when…

Currently I am Solo Running every day close to my home in Camberley. As I physically and socially distance I think a lot about Sandhurst Joggers and Tuesday Club Runs. I know we will definitely return and I am very much looking forward to that day!

THURSDAY GM – Katie Herrington

Having been in the bottom group for PE with an aim of not getting beaten by the ‘fat kid’ and always ‘twisting my ankle 😉’ before cross country, I never would have guessed what I would be doing of late. I started running in my early twenties in response to finding the gym ‘less than fun’ after a long commute. I entered a half marathon, and once I got to 10K bravely enrolled into my local running club (Harlow running club)… and the rest is history. I was known for being a ‘good’ distance and off road runner, regularly running in half marathons and running competitively for the club in midweek league races and cross country races.

 Training for my first marathon, I began to love running distances and began running marathons for fun – thank you LDWA. Following the development of asthma and performance anxiety, David Ayling (who I met through running) took my hand and led me down the slippery slope of ultras…. He had already run a few at this point (Malvern Hills 60, Thames Trot) and as I trained with him anyway I decided to give it a try. Since then I have run distances of up to 105miles, and have run many beautiful long distance trails (eg. Dales Way, North Downs Way, Ridgeway).

Whilst I may not be the best at running 5k and 10k, I understand the importance of speed and tempo work in events of all distances (including you ultra runner!). But I also understand how scary such sessions may seem if you do not think ‘you are fast enough’ or ‘that type of runner’.

Since joining Sandhurst Joggers in 2015, I have been working to better mange both my asthma and performance anxiety (it’s not a helpful combo) and the love and the support of the club have been tremendous in supporting me through this. I admit this because 1) it’s nothing to be ashamed of, and 2) I cannot be the only one worried that I would be ‘too slow’ for a tempo or speed work session.

I am the run leader for both the Tuesday night (7.30pm) speed work and the Thursday night (7.30) tempo running session and aside from making sure these important sessions still deliver 😎👌, I want to break down the notion that these sessions are for ‘the speedies’ so that a greater range of runners from our club can feel that they can enjoy and benefit from such sessions.

And yes, my school PE buddies were shocked that I now run ultras!

Lockdown Lowdown – 17th April

Social Avengers Virtual Team Challenge

I have been requested to give the Challenge a little nudge…

In order to keep the boredom at bay, the Social Avengers are putting together the ‘SJ Virtual Team Challenge’.

The idea behind this is that anyone interested in participating will be sorted into teams of 5 (or if you want to put your own team together, that’s fine too), then over the course of 4 weeks (or longer if people want to continue after that), will attempt to do as much exercise as you can – this can be: running, walking, cycling, pilates, yoga, virtual fitness classes – whatever you like, as long as you keep to the government guidelines – note that only 1 activity where you leave your house can be counted per person per day.

Please keep track of the number of ‘active minutes’ you have logged, and nominate a team captain to collate your team information for submission at the end of each week – we will send out a template to the team captains to help with this. The reason for logging ‘time’ rather than ‘distance’ is that we know that some people are struggling to get outside for runs/walks due to childcare etc. so we thought this would be a fairer way to do it but still allow as many people as possible to participate.

At the end of each week, we will publish a leader board so you can see how your team is doing. We would encourage teams to set up Whatsapp/Facebook messenger groups to motivate and keep in touch with each other.

The club have 19 complete teams plus one other person it would be great to get to 20 teams, that’s 100 participants, so if you have not joined in yet, what is stopping you??

There is also the annual SJ Pizza Party for spring marathon participants and this will take place on Monday evening on 27th April.

All members who ran a spring marathon and all members who should have run a spring marathon are invited. Since this is a virtual party you will have to provide your own pizza and drinks. Further details to follow via Facebook and email.

A’part’run – Saturday 18th April

It may be a bit wet, cold and dreary out there today but the weather is looking nicer for tomorrow!

Let’s see if we can fill in some of the gaps but add others as you please.

A: Ambarrow Court
B: Blackbushe old runways
Blackbushe Yateley Common
C: Crowvid-19
D: Darby Green
E:
F: Frogmore
G:
H: Hawley Lake
Hawley Meadow
I:
J:
K:
L: Lower Broadmoor Road – The one where you may recognise the road from Handicap
M: Mickle Hill
N: Nine Mile Triangle – The one that isn’t nine miles but is a triangle
O: Orseshoe Lake – The one where Fiona dropped her ‘H’
P:
Q:
R: Rosemary __ – The one with Rosemary Lane and Rosemary Gardens
S: Snaprails – The one where it starts and finishes nowhere near it’s name
T:
U:
V:
W: Wick Hill – The one where the finish is nowhere near the start
Waitrose Hill – The one where you almost die at the end of the Yateley 10K
X: X marks the spot – The one where they used to land
Y: Yateley Common – The one where there are adders
Yorktown
Z: Zayed Lines – The one with the downhill finish!

Use your imagination to your hearts content!

Last week on Strava Jim Laidlaw claimed the top spot as the “Virtual Easter 10 challenge” helped bump up the totals .

To take part in this just create a free Strava account and link it to the club in your profile.

Here’s the top 10 from last week:-

Running in the time of Covid-19

With the SJ Virtual Team Challenge to start next week, Lisa Harrold, Alison Jones and Andrea Hadfield thought it would be a good idea to put together some hints and tips for running during this dark period of Lockdown.

Here is what Andrea has compiled for starters….

Whilst there’s been many articles about how you can run safely at the moment, there’s a few hints and tips that might seem like common sense, but have really helped me for planning my runs, so I thought I’d share them.

1: Think about where you are going to run – if possible, stick to residential roads with pavements on both sides, or extra wide paths (e.g. The Devil’s Highway!) that will make it easy to avoid people. Single tracks are fun, but can make things tricky if you meet others coming the opposite direction! If you find a good route near your home with plenty of space, then consider doing laps of that, rather than going further afield.

2: If you can, go early in the morning or later in the evening – now that summer is on its way, it’s light until 8pm, giving plenty of options. I’ve found this is particularly relevant when the weather is nice – off peak is the way forward.

3: When you’re running, it’s helpful to look ahead and be more aware of your surroundings than you would usually be, for example, if you’re coming up to a blind corner, slow down and take care. I’ve found people suddenly appearing from behind parked cars or out of their driveways, and being very surprised to see me.

4: If you’re wearing headphones (unless they are aftershokz!), then keep the volume low and be prepared to remove them, particularly if you need to run in the road to avoid people on the pavement – although there’s a lot less traffic around, cars are quite often going at higher speeds.

5: Finally, runners are getting a lot of bad press at the moment, so being extra polite and keeping your distance will help us all in the long run, however, if you don’t want to run outside, then there’s plenty of options for keeping fit at home!

A statement from England Athletics says: “We want people to keep themselves as individuals physically active and fit but with direct adherence to government guidance…the government has permitted that people are allowed to leave their homes once a day for the purpose of exercise under current guidelines and during a period where many outdoor purpose built facilities are closed to the public, lone running, walking, circuit training, HIIT routines and core strength and mobility training are some of the ways in which people can remain active during this period”

If you’ve got any other tips then please share them in the comments!

It has been really great to see the support you are all providing each other and the “SOCIAL DISTANCING MENTAL HEALTH CHECK-IN” posted by Stephen Casey was a brilliant example of this as was Mark Neve‘s question to the members about Lockdown goals.

Thanks for reading the Lockdown Lowdown!

There will be separate posts early next week with a runners report of the Virtual Easter 10, part 2 of the introduction of our new committee and some other upcoming events 🙂

Our new 2020/21 committee – part 1

First up, Lisa..

As mentioned recently and from emails you should have received, a new committee for 2020/21 was approved at the recent AGM.

After Richard Boese and Wayne Boardman stepped down as Chairman and Vice-chair, here are their replacements to tell us about themselves!

CHAIR – Lisa Harrold

I started running for the first time in January 2011.  Two of my three sons suffered from Ulcerative Colitis and I wanted to support the charity Crohns and Colitis by running Fleet Half Marathon in March 2011. I would never recommend that to anyone now, not to complete a half in 2 months from scratch, but I finished it. Unfortunately, I hadn’t come across Sandhurst Joggers until after Fleet HM so knowing what I do now, I would never have run it in such a short period of time.

Sandhurst Joggers has enabled me to complete 10ks, 10 miles, half marathons and my biggest achievement of all the London Marathon, and whilst I am not a natural runner, I am still here in 2020, running.  I have also made a lot of friends through the club too.

Pure Beginners was formed 5 years ago by Madeleine Duncan-Booth and myself, whilst we were on a Leadership in Running course and it has given me the greatest pleasure (as well as Caroline Cutliffe and Liz Crow whom I have partnered with) to see people grow and “enjoy” (perhaps that not the right word :-D) their running journey by being able to run a 5k parkrun at the end of the 9 week course.

I have been a member of the SJ Committee for many years, by starting as a Tuesday GM, moving to Secretary then Social Secretary, co-opted role for Pure Beginners and now the position of Chair.

Because there have been so many people in Sandhurst Joggers who have helped me to achieve my goals for which I am extremely grateful, I have always wanted to give back to the club and so therefore by being part of a great committees over the years, it was the reason why I decided I would like to step up for the role of Chair.

In these such surreal times, I know it is hard for us to run alone, something I hate doing myself, so I will treasure the moment when we are all able to run together.

In the meantime, please stay safe, keep well and keep smiling!

Lisa

VICE CHAIR – Dave Bartlett

Hi all, I’m Dave Bartlett and I joined Sandhurst Joggers in March 2016.

For the first year I focused on gaining some fitness following a frank discussion with my doctor in November 2015. Having started parkrun on the 2nd January I can’t say I’ll ever forget my first club run and the welcoming words of Patrick Wadsworth “well if you can run for an hour you’ll be fine with us!” Oh dear, what had I let myself in for. Having got through 2016 and seen clear benefits for my ventures I upped the ante and decided to take on half marathons through 2017. It was quite an unbelievable year, which I have to say was made so much easier by the encouragement and support of the membership.

In 2018 following a marked improvement in my running and general health I decided to take on the role of Tuesday night GM following the retirement of Mike Gascoigne, a long standing member of the club and inspiration given the commitment and masses he use to organise on Tuesdays. A night that truly does cater for runners of all abilities (as all nights do) with 5 if not 6 paced groups it was a challenge an opportunity I enjoyed. Averaging somewhere in the region of 45 runners per night throughout the year it was a pleasure to hold this position and get the support of many who stepped up and offered to lead groups from 9m/m to run/walk. Sincerest thanks to each and every one of you.

Having held the above role for 2 years, it was time to consider a new challenge. As time went on I seriously wondered if I could give more than the organisation of one night per week. Then out of nowhere I received a text that read “Hi mate, hope you’re well and keeping safe. Anything I can do or say to convince you to become VC? You’ll make a good un” Working full time and travelling regularly across the UK as an engineering training manager I gave it some serious consideration, and as you are now aware I find myself in the position of vice chairman.

I’m looking forward to supporting the new Chairman in her role and the continuation of internal running events. Be assured that once we are free of social distancing the intraclub relays will be back and I’ll be looking for ideas from the membership as to what they’d like to see on the “Not weekend away”. Although this year is going to be different to any other we’ve experienced as a club, I look forward to working with the new team and keeping the membership busy

regards Dave

SOCIAL AVENGERS!

Now that Nikki Fallowfield-Smith has stepped aside from 5 years sterling work within the committee in the roles of Publicity, Thurs GM and Social Secretary, she is looking forward to throwing loose the shackles of moderation and creating some anarchy whilst being a new Mum 🙂

Stepping up to create some fun for us are Alison Jones and Andrea Hadfield.

SOCIAL – Alison Jones

I have been a member of Sandhurst Joggers for quite a few years now and although I often help out on a Tuesday Club run, I also helped with the 5 – 10k improvers group a couple of years ago, this got me thinking that maybe I should continue to offer a group run for runners lacking the confidence to join some of the other groups, which I do on a Wednesday, we also join the handicap and my usual group runners are usually in the first 3, with one of them still holding the trophy, by default I should mention.

As for me, I am ancient and did not come into running until I was over 50, although mentally I was still 12, so really went for it.  My main love/hate are marathons of which I have completed 41, but can be seen attempting any old distance.  My main claim to fame is that I achieved the Abbotts Majors medal, which I have written about in detail, but now I enjoy being a member of Sandhurst Joggers and hopefully can provide some memorable social events when circumstances allow, although I will warn you Nikki Fallowfield-Smith is a hard act to follow, but me and Andrea will do our best.

SOCIAL – Andrea Hadfield

Hello!

I’ve been a member of SJ for about 5 years or so, although not a regular attender at any particular runs for a while, I had started coming along on Wednesday nights at the beginning of the year.

Running events wise, I tend to like the longer distance stuff, particularly if it involves nice views and interesting bling. I decided to join the committee as the joint social officer (with Alison) as I’ve always enjoyed attending SJ social events – often more than the running ones!

When I was at uni (a while ago now!) I was the social secretary of our hiking club so I have a bit of relevant experience! Although we can’t socialise face to face at the moment, we’re going to try and think of some ways to keep you entertained, so watch this space! 

As and when I get the remainder of these from the new committee I shall update you!

Lockdown Lowdown – 11th April 2020

I hope you have all been enjoying the good weather and once more a massive thank-you to our club members for adhering to the Government requests regarding exercising.

For a club with such a big social side to it, the current restrictions must feel difficult for some but if it means we come out of this sooner and healthier having not over-burdened our primary health carers in the NHS then it is a very small sacrifice compared to theirs.

Patrick Denston did post on Facebook about a run he had using headphones and on a whatsapp group which looks great for those missing the social side. Have a look and see if it is something to look into as some of you may find it just what you need as I do keep reading about people missing the social side.

We also have a Zoom meeting for the apres Sunday coffee, cake and chat that make up the reason that that we normally run at Swinley and Ian Watson has posted details of this to our Facebook page.

Take a 90 minute run (or not) around Swinley Forest to join. You will also be glad to know the club also now has proper subscription to Zoom so you will not spend 38 of your allotted 40 minutes sorting out your individual audio/visual issues 😀 Also even if you have not ran but just fancy a chat then just join. Bliss!

A’part’run Alphabet challenge

Having seen some members start off their own a’part’runs the challenge was put out to log your a’part’runs, then add an alphabet challenge and as an added challenge give it a Friends theme! Well some of us have time on our hands so why not?

As an overview this is what we have so far:

A: Ambarrow Court
B: Blackbushe old runways
Blackbushe Yateley Common
C: Crowvid-19
D: Darby Green
E:
F: Frogmore
G:
H: Hawley Lake
Hawley Meadow
I:
J:
K:
L: Lower Broadmoor Road – The one where you may recognise the road from Handicap
M: Mickle Hill
N: Nine Mile Triangle – The one that isn’t nine miles but is a triangle
O: Orseshoe Lake – The one where Fiona dropped her ‘H’
P:
Q:
R: Rosemary __ – The one with Rosemary Lane and Rosemary Gardens
S: Snaprails – The one where it starts and finishes nowhere near it’s name
T:
U:
V:
W: Wick Hill
Waitrose Hill – The one where you almost die at the end of the Yateley 10K
X: X marks the spot – The one where they used to land
Y: Yateley Common – The one where there are adders
Yorktown
Z: Zayed Lines – The one with the downhill finish!

Just so we remember what we look like, here are a few of the pics posted:

Imaginative naming Sarah!

We love that hill so much Michelle!

Seems like you will have all future PB rights 🙂

Going forward, these runs must:

Start at 09:00 on Saturday
Be a 5K run (or part of a mashup)
Have strava/other evidence

Thanks for joining in with a bit of fun especially for those of us that are missing the weekly parkrun!

Virtual Easter 10 challenge

Recognising the Maidenhead Easter 10 was an event many club members would miss, Jenny Robinson came up with a great idea to set up the virtual challenge for the weekend. It is so simple to take part, run the distance then upload via the following:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdd1ICRu-0d2lAKaI1w9f-LNBMVddDGtK-SVNDnUXdaSsJP8Q/viewform?usp=sf_link

Please, please all follow Jenny’s brilliant advice:

• Finish line pictures are encouraged. Please post to Facebook.
• Pacers in the form of children or partners on bikes or running are allowed.

An example of a good finish line photo from Claire Hobson:

Out of interest, it will also be good to hear from our members how they found the car-parking and baggage holding facilities for the 2020 event? There have been “issues” in the past so it would be good to see if they have been resolved by not needing to go to Maidenhead?

Thanks for reading the Lockdown Lowdown and there will be another post early next week regarding our new committee and some upcoming events 🙂

Let’s make sure we do our bit to support the NHS especially when those of our members who have trained to be physio’s and put themselves on the frontline…

Be good to see you back taking the 10/11 min mile groups again Jess Metcalfe!

A’part’run Alphabet Challenge – Easter Weekend

Thank-you

to all you SJ’s for adhering to the official parkrun request that until Covid is under control we avoid going to parkrun locations at 09:00 on a Saturday morning.

As a club this seems to be a point that does not need to be made but just a reminder please to make sure our passion and our club are respected during these difficult times.

I’ll be there for you!

Actually that is just a pathetic headline (poorman’s clickbait) for the weekends additional parkrun challenge.

If you were a fan of that sitcom Friends then you may well sigh and think life could get no worse Jim than it is so why make it worse? Sorry but **IT happens so I hope you can get into the spirit and make it happen 🙂

I was discussing walking routes with my daughter Becky and it kept coming back to “The one with…” or “The one where…” which is apparently how Friends episodes were titled (apologies I did not watch it).

So along with the new unofficial alphabetic series for our parkrun’s, can we please have a FRIENDS suffix of “The one with…” etc. for the following with an example in bold below:

A: Ambarrow Court
B: Blackbushe old runways
C: Crowvid-19
D: Derby Green (rename from Blackwater)
E:
F: Frogmore
G:
H:
I:
J:
K:
L:
M: Mickle Hill
N:
O: Orseshoe Lake – The one where Fiona dropped her ‘H’
P:
Q:
R:
S:
T:
U:
V:
W:
X:
Y: Yateley Common
Z:

So as well as looking forward to additions to this list, be aware it needs to meet the criteria of having a Friends suffix 😀

It may well get worse if the lockdown gets tighter (Mr Evans, “N” is still free for your residence and locally famous marathon location).

Club Events for the week ahead…

Just to make sure you are all aware, all official Sandhurst Jogger club events are currently postponed until England Athletics formally amend their stance on the matter.

In the interim though our GMs are still giving us some structure to give us some purpose to our weeks.

Speed Work Tuesday:

From Katie Herrington:

Speed work Tuesday (7th April)! It’s the hills session with a twist. Find the hilliest 4 mile loop that you can (given the restrictions) and work the hills. If the gap between hills is more than 5 minutes then add some pick ups.

Be creative with it – and post your route on our facebook page💪. The hilliest route wins!

Wednesday:  I am not aware of any time this has not actually taken place but it will not be happening this month.

As a club we would like to politely request that you do not turn up at 19:30 “anyway” to just do it as it would not take too many to turn up for “others” to see it as us treating covid with disregard and continuing club events.

This would potentially bring the club into disrepute and I know that none of our members would want to do this so I do feel I am “teaching my granny to suck eggs” and apologise for the preachy tone but the needs of our club outweigh our needs right now.

Friday:

Once more keep an eye on the Facebook page for one of our coaches to post this weeks variety of sessions.

Thank you to Jim Casey, Carl Bradshaw and Newton Johnstone for keeping us motivated during this period and I am sure you are looking forward to seeing us back in person to see how much hurt we will go through to achieve our goals!

Maybe we need to upload a post-session picture to show how deep we have gone 🙂

Thanks for reading and especially now, have a safe week of running and I’ll see you soon!

Please let’s all act as the best ambassadors of running there is and with the exponential increase in walkers that there seems to have been let’s be the best we can be!

There are a lot of scared people out there.

We are more used to being out and about and making sure we keep our own safety in mind we are probably better placed to act and react than these people who have only just found paths and trails so lets do our bit. If safe to do so move a safe distance away, wait at path junctions and connect emotionally even if socially distant.

Only concern yourself about what you can control !

Actually, I may make a request to our broader membership for some tips on how to cope as I am just some IT chap 🙂 Any takers please PM me…..