Just months into 2024 and already a new fitness trend has taken the country by storm.
Run clubs have begin to pop up all over Australia with people of all ages – no matter their experience or skill – signing up in the masses.
“We believe it’s the community aspect that’s really drawing everyone in,” KICRUN co-founders Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw tell 9honey Coach.
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“It’s really about the opportunity to meet up, and do something together in a safe, inclusive and fun environment,” they say.
Smith and Henshaw co-founded their own inclusive run club KICRUN in partnership with New Balance as a space accessible for women and runners of all levels.
“Running no longer has to be about marathons and smashing PB’s, instead, it’s about having fun,” they share, adding their club comes with no judgment and no expectations.
The KICRUN co-founders recently conducted their own survey with over 5000 women.
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In the survey, they discovered one in five women have signed up for a run club or fun run with motivation, sense of community and boost in mood being the highest contributors.
“Run clubs are often male-dominated or aligned with an upcoming half/full marathon, with a focus on training and hitting PBs,” the duo add.
Together with New Balance, our KICRUN Clubs are different because they’re inclusive, they’re made for runners of all levels.”
On the flip side, the study found one of the things holding almost half the women back.
According to the findings, 41 percent of Aussie women fear they’re not fast enough to join and keep up with the more skilled runners while others felt intimidated.
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But the KICRUN co-founders actually see running ‘slower’ as a positive thing.
Slow running has emerged as a popular trend across social media with influencers encouraging runners to run at their own pace no matter how slow that may be.
“We believe at Kic that your pace doesn’t define your ability to run and the first piece of running advice we give our running community is to actually slow down,” they say.
“Perhaps a better way to think of “slow running” is “easy running”, or running at a pace that you feel you could easily sustain for a long period of time,” they suggest.
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According to Henshaw, who has long been an advocate for the benefits of running, the slow running trend is more about “mindfully tuning into your body”.
“Everyone’s running goals will be different, so we suggest focusing on your ‘why’ for running,” she says.
“Are you running for your mental health, or are you training for an event? Whatever it is, it can be a good idea to come back to this ‘why’ and embrace your own pace.”
One of the benefits of slowing down your running pace is actually reducing chances of injury by not exerting your body the duo reveal.
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Additionally, slowing everything down can be an important part of recovering from injury and returning to exercise – something Henshaw, who was injured last year can attest to.
“We often focus a lot on the end goal and our past performances when we’re injured and rebuilding strength again,” Henshaw says.
“We end up focusing a lot on the distance we want to run, our old PB’s and other people’s pace in comparison to ours.”
Instead, the fitness guru suggests celebrating your personal journey when returning to running from an injury.
“We can forget to actually enjoy the process of achieving our goals and building up our strength again!” she tells 9honey Coach.
“It’s the resilience and self-belief, the good stuff that only comes through those challenging moments.”
“Whether it’s your first 5 minute run back or you’ve run an extra 1km than last time, celebrating each of those wins can help make the healing journey more enjoyable.”
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