My Running Story – Jane Baxter

After retiring, I joined a gym to keep my fitness levels up and after three years of treadmills and cross trainers I needed a new fitness challenge. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the gym and attend regular strength training classes, but I wanted something else and importantly it had to be out in the fresh air.

So, I began to jog around The Common, just taking my time and enjoying the views around Shrewton. This was fine for a while then I thought “what can I do with all this mileage I’m building up. Why not sign up for a race?” I downloaded a training programme but found that it wasn’t much fun training by myself and I wasn’t pushing myself as much as I could. Then I discovered Shrewton Running Club, a friendly group of welcoming and supportive runners of all levels.

In only a few weeks my running has improved hugely. Running in a group pushes you just a little bit further so that you can set small achievable goals and gain confidence step by step. This has enabled me to achieve my first Parkrun followed by a 10k race. Running can be challenging in a good way but most of all it’s fun and sociable (plus they have great running vests).