VeganRunners
How Joining Vegan Runners Transformed my Running Journey
I first joined Vegan Runners in 2017, at a time where I was serious about
fitness but unsure of how to train as a runner. I ran occasionally, but
didn't love it. Instead, cycling (a sport still very close to my heart)
became my primary mode of fitness for the next 6 years, with the odd run,
and lots of strength training thrown in-between.
I took on big challenges,
such as frequent 50 mile + rides. I even cycled to my family home in
Wales from my Gloucester Road address for a trip home, and cycled back
again a few days later. I learned a lot about bike mechanics and myself
in the process. I've seen so much of the UK that I would never have seen
if it were not for my bike. My favourite thing to do during this time of
my life was to, without giving it thought, pick a location on my route planning app and see where it
took me.
Fastforward to April 2024, I attended Bristol's spring Vegan
Fayre where Vegan Runners had a stall. It immediately caught my attention
as I'd been running on and off for the previous few months. A lovely lady called Rachel talked me into signing up and after a few weeks of nervously not attending the weekly training sessions, I attended my first hills session with Ryan, Chris, and Deb. I was made to feel so welcome by these warm and friendly VRs.
4 months later, I've become a regular parkrun attendee, completed my first half-marathon, and have signed up to my first ultramarathon, which I'm currently training for. My first marathon will take place during the ultra. Running, and running as part of VRs, has made me realise that instead of being the person that says
"I could never do that"" (which I often say to myself), I am a person that can do the things I once thought imporrible for myself. I can just sign up to a 50km race, despite never having run a marathon, and I can put in the hard work to run and walk the race. For me, it's not about the time it takes me to run (unless it's parkrun), it's about the training. I'm really enjoying the resilience I'm learning through running, as it's quite literally about putting one foot in front of the other.
I'll be running Chiltern 50km, a route supposedly favoured by experienced ultra marathoners. Despite this, I feel complete confidence in myself, a lot of which comes from being surrounding by the VRs I spend time with each week. I feel inspired by every VR I've met and am yet to meet, and collectively they have inspiration by the bucket-load.