You added fitness to your 2019 goals, so you signed yourself up for a couple of local 5k and 10k races – yay you! Now what??
To avoid injury, you’re going to want to start training soon. Start slow and build up to running the full distance of whatever race you’ve registered for. We’ve got you covered! RunSport is a fantastic not-for-profit society that presents athletic events and supports the sport of running in Greater Victoria. These fine folks are responsible for the hugely popular TC 10k which draws well over 10,000 participants every year.
RunSport offers Learn-to-Run training clinics all over Greater Victoria that will take you from “never run in my life” to completing an entire 10k in about 14 weeks – provided you commit to the process and complete all of your training runs as designed. The RunSport clinics are intended to get you ready for the TC 10k happening in downtown Victoria on April 28, and a nice bonus is that your clinic registration includes your race registration too.
Now, even though these clinics have already started (most start the last weekend of January every year), fear not! The clinics start at a very slow pace, so even if you are brand new to running, you can still catch up if you join one quickly. Our local Westshore clinic is being put on by Westshore Parks and Recreation and you can register here.
Not sure what other races are happening in your area? There’s a good list here, but there are a couple of shorter distance runs that are happening in April that we recommend as a great warm up to the TC 10k and the Oak Bay Half Marathon (or 10k) on May 26:
- Sarah Beckett Memorial Run – 5k on April 13, 2019 at Belmont Secondary School, 3041 Langford Lake Road
- Bazan Bay – 5k on April 14, 2019 along the beautiful ocean front in Sidney on Lochside Drive and Lochside Trail
Registration for various races all over Greater Victoria are open now and there are usually incentives if you register early, so don’t wait! Commit, get training, celebrate small successes along the way and let us know how it goes!