Many members of our community have taken up running over the past few years and enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits that often come with increasing your fitness and spending time in the great outdoors.
North Bristol Running Group (NBRG) is once again offering its popular ‘Couch to 5k’ course from October, and over a period of eight weeks will support you to reach the goal of completing a 5km (3.1 mile) run/jog by the time you graduate (even if you have never run before!).
The course will be held on Friday evenings at Bradley Stoke Community School from 19th October until 14th December (at 6.30pm) and the cost of the course is £10 in total. Over the eight weeks, the Run Leaders and Helpers will help you to gradually increase the distance that you run whilst following a structured training programme.
Melanie completed the course last year after seeing it advertised on the Bradley Stoke Journal Facebook page and making a snap decision to join. She told us: “I’m so glad I did! Running with NBRG has helped me overcome depression as well as improve my physical health. Best decision I ever made!”
Rachel also joined last year’s course and said: “It was an amazing eight weeks and has given me the running bug!” Rachel would thoroughly recommend the course to anyone and now loves being part of the NBRG ‘green army’.
Lyn Wilson joined NBRG as a beginner in 2016 and during the course dropped three dress sizes! Lyn now regularly takes part in parkrun, competes in 10k events and, in April this year, completed the London Marathon. Lyn now supports and encourages many of her fellow runners and is a regular Helper on the ‘Couch to 5k’ course.
Sheila Wilcox, one the course leaders, said: “It’s always inspiring to see how our beginners start by jogging just one minute at a time, yet by the end of the course can complete a full 5km. We love to introduce people to running and to welcome them to our running group.”
If you are interested in joining the next ‘Couch to 5k’, email sheilawilcox1@outlook.com for full details.
NBRG is a friendly, local running group and its regular runs take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 6.30pm. On most evenings they are able to offer a variety of pace groups. All runs start from Bradley Stoke Surgery on Brook Way.
For more information, visit the North Bristol Running Group page on Facebook or contact Alan Wilcox on 07890 182387 or alanawilcox@tiscali.co.uk
Photo: Participants on a previous NBRG beginners’ course in 2015.
This article originally appeared (in an abridged form) in the October 2018 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine (on page 35). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to ALL 8,700 homes in Bradley Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
