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The Ysgol Bro Dinefwr School Staff run group started in October 2018.\u00a0 They were contacted by Run Activator Sharon Leech who went into the school for an information session, giving staff a brief overview of the Run Wales Couch to 5K programme and answering the many questions they had.\u00a0 Most of the participants had never run before and so they were quite anxious at the beginning of how they would be able to manage a 5K distance within 9 weeks.<\/p>\n
As with all groups, the key is to aim for three run\/walk sessions per week.\u00a0 Many manage on two sessions, but it\u2019s almost impossible to advance comfortably by doing just one session a week.<\/p>\n
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The run leader at Bro Dinefwr is Ann Jenkins.\u00a0 She is a Food Tech teacher and so in the eyes of the other staff, was not as \u2018scary\u2019 as being led by a PE teacher!\u00a0 In fact two of the PE teachers actually joined in the session to improve their fitness and enjoy the running themselves!\u00a0 Initially the plan was to meet formally as a group once a week, Wednesday after school.\u00a0 A Facebook group was established and quickly staff were contacting each other to complete the second session of the week on a Friday.\u00a0 This became so popular that Ann actually committed to leading the group twice weekly.\u00a0 Sharon joined the group once or twice in the early stages if Ann was unavailable, but the group was very independent from the beginning.<\/p>\n
One of the positive factors was choosing to run around the gravel track in the village. Many would think this could become boring, doing laps of a track, but the runners enjoyed the fact that they were always in view of the Run Leader, no one felt \u2018last\u2019 or \u2018behind\u2019 and they had the security of never being too far away from the finish line!\u00a0 They continued to use the track for many of their sessions, unt<\/span>il the winter weather and the dark evenings made it impossible.\u00a0 They then opted to run around the all weather football pitch on the school grounds, until they were up to greater distances and then they did laps of the 1K perimeter of the whole school.<\/span><\/p>\n They continued to post weekly sessions even through School holidays, with some staff opting to link up for a run if they lived near each other.\u00a0 The aim was a Parkrun in the New Year.\u00a0 Poor weather and various other commitments made this difficult in January, so the group continued to meet for a 5K run<\/p>\n each week, with an additional Strength and Conditioning session slotted in.\u00a0 Ann is a big fan of the gym herself and so could lead the group through a good fitness session.\u00a0\u00a0 Sharon contacted the group with information about a 5K race at the Botanic Gardens in April \u2013 many have now entered this and the group have also done a formal 5K continuous run at the local National Trust Dinefwr Park.\u00a0 Their plan is to do a Parkrun and fit this into their weekly routine whenever they can.\u00a0 With plans afoot for a new Parkrun in Brynamman, staff living further towards Llandovery or the Amman Valley will have a closer option than the current Llyn Llech Owain, Llanelli or Swansea.<\/p>\n Ysgol Bro Dinefwr has been a huge success story, largely down to the motivation and commitment of the Run Leader, who has insisted on running through the weather to achieve their goal, something the runners are very grateful for, even if on a cold wet night they may have not felt quite as grateful at the time!\u00a0 Other schools in the area have also started up groups, some with students involved as well.\u00a0 Please get in touch with your local Run Activator if you\u2019d like more information on how to set up a group in your own School.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Ysgol Bro Dinefwr School Staff run group started in October 2018.\u00a0 They were contacted by Run Activator Sharon Leech who went into the school for an information session, giving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":5205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/irun.wales\/app\/uploads\/Picture1-300x224.jpg\")
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