Reconnecting with Runners in the Community

What I'm doing to connect with runners in my community

Nov 06, 2020

After 76 emails to you with my weekly quips, I am only more certain about 1 thing: we all need to feel connected.

I’ve been thinking back to why I started a newsletter on top of a blog and originally I wanted to connect with everyone.

In a time when our stress levels are probably a smidge higher than they should be, I want to be a breath of fresh air. I want to help uplift your spirits and also give you some good running tidbits to read as you head into your weekly long run.

I got my monthly email from Stava and saw that 166 people gave me kudos and I only gave out 6. I’m so bad at jumping on and analyzing my own run that I don’t give props to anyone else either.

So over the next month, here’s what I want to do to help support other runners in the community:

Comment on 30 Run856 posts
Give kudos to 40 runs in Strava
Comment and like 50 posts on Instagram
Wave to every runner I pass while out running

Obviously, not everything happens online, but not a lot of people run when I do (at 6:30 am)… And with limited races on the calendar, I probably won’t be seeing too many runners!

This week has been the first week in 3 weeks I’ve felt like a runner again. I had taken a full week away from running to recover from a slight calf strain and the next two weeks after that were both slow and sluggish. This week, I finally have some pop and have felt good after runs. Just yesterday, I ran a really good fartlek run where I was cutting through the early morning fog. I felt badass!

Here are the last 3 days of the Running Challenge I had over on my Facebook group.

12: Fartlek run day. Fartlek is Swedish for “speed-play”. If you’re attempting a fartlek run, remember to warmup beforehand! Be sure to emphasize the fun and deemphasize splits, times, paces. I run fartleks one of two ways: 1) run, for example, 3 minutes quick, recover for a minute. There’s no set pace, time or effort level except for “quick”. I repeat until I feel I’m done. 2) run quick to the lamp post or sign or car, recover to the next one, repeat until I feel I’ve done enough work.

13: Run in a Halloween costume!

14: Today, on the last day, I challenge you to run 10k. It doesn’t have to be fast, in fact, it’s sometimes nice to run by kilometers instead of miles.

Friday’s Action Plan:

Big Events Coming Up:

Marlton Turkey Trot

What’s Got My Attention:

Article: Molly Huddle Breaks Three American Track Records in One Run

Article: Here's why you feel faster when running in the dark

Popular Newsletter Sessions:

Let’s Band Together

Time Away from Running Makes me a Better Runner

Quote of the Day:

Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't.

List of the Week:

Connect with me:

I’m on Instagram

I’m on Facebook

I’m on Twitter

I'm on TikTok

Here’s my blog

Thanks for following along on the journey! Have something you’d like to add? Have suggestions or comments? Email me: TrainwithMarc@gmail.com

If this resonates with you, I would love it if you could share it.

Marc is a middle school teacher and coach but also works with distance runners online. I help distance runners around the globe by providing support, writing customized training plans, and designing workouts to help them reach their racing goals. I write for my blog every Wednesday morning and newsletter every Friday morning.

TrainwithMarc