Run Club

There was a time that Friday lunch was my favourite part of the working week. It usually involved going out for lunch with work colleagues or friends and eating something deliciously naughty. If I was really lucky there would also be a nice beverage as a symbolic gesture to the weekend gods that were about to grace me with their presence. And if I was really, really lucky and it was some kind of special occasion – end of year, birthday or Christmas time, I would get a FTR (fail to return).

How things have changed… My new favourite day of the work week is now Thursday and the reason being… It’s run club day!

Run club was established in 2011 when a friend of my cousin Adam asked him and two others, one now his wife Amy, to enter a 10km running race as a group. They trained, ran and finished together. In 2012 they decided to up the ante to a half marathon and did the same.  The 16^th of January 2014 was the first recorded Strava run club run in Docklands – 5.5km 5:26 pace and 40 degrees! From here the run club never looked back and slowly it was joined by more regular runners that formed the core group committed to getting out there. Sometimes there were 5 runners, often there was only 2 or 3, but regardless of numbers run club ran every week.

My entry into run club came late in 2014 when Adam asked me to partake in the Gatorade Triathlon series and train with him and Amy and Rob. It really didn’t take long for me to get hooked and I found myself really looking forward to our runs. The runs were not always on a Thursday as in the early days it was more about when we all had a free lunchtime to run, but as the group has gotten bigger (and running has become our priority) we have cemented Thursday as the official day. 

As each new runner enters the pack they are given a running name and this was how I became known as ‘Mojo’ but more on that in another post. The early runners included names such as Coach, Strider, Zombie, Yankee, BOOM BOOM, Gunner and Surge. The 30^th of January 2015 was the first recorded “Club” run – a 1km time trial after 5kms of intervals. 6 people showed up and Boom Boom Becker ran a 3:35 km to set the first fastest lap on the time trial. By this time there was a list of 20 people that included such names as The Fish, Niggles and Ferret Gonzalas.

At first there was only 4 courses. The first of which was the Docklands 1km time trial Aka the Race That Stops a Bank, then the Stadium Climb, the Stairs, and Loops. These expanded to keep things interesting to include Waterfront which is now called The Woolsheds, Run of Rob’s Life which is now called the Etihad 900 and Lion’s Run which never underwent a name change.  

Race week was originally held about every 5-6 weeks and on the 19^th of February 2015 Gunner matched BOOM BOOM’s PB of 3:35 and then smashed it by 7 seconds on the 24^th of April. Unfortunately for him that day Coach had a blinder and ran a PB of 3:24 to go 4 seconds faster. Unfortunately for both of them Boom Boom ran in a cool 3:18 to ensure he never lost his title.  However, Boom Boom has now been knocked of his perch and the race record holder is currently King Slayer, aptly named after he came out for his first race and smashed out an incredible time of 3:09, 8 seconds faster than the previous victor the King.

My PB is sitting at 3:56 and I am determined to see just how fast I can get, who knows maybe one day I will be up there with the Kings - Impossible is nothing right.

Some Numbers:

There have been:

90 run sessions 

18 race weeks

130 individuals on the Run Club Email

58 different people have actually shown up to run

56 have come back for a second go 

19 is the biggest group of runners we have had

Happy running x