Resilient Runners is a series of blogs about the brilliant ideas that our running community have been coming up with to keep each other going in these unprecedented times . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leader Claire Tapper wrote to tell us “Ponty panthers was set up following my own Alfie\u2019s Angels experience in 2016. The experience changed my lifestyle. I had never even dreamt of running before but found I loved being part of the running community and I wanted to motivate others to get out there and run. In December that year I done my LIRF and became a Run Leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ponty Panthers started in February 2017 as a Couch to 5k group and following the C25K we progressed to 10k runs and a few of the ladies ran Cardiff Half Marathon in October that year. All our regular runners have now gone on to run at least one half marathon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are a small, friendly running group and the camaraderie within the group is amazing. We have regular social nights out, have made good friends and the first weekend of March this year (just before lockdown) a group of six of us were lucky enough to have a weekend in Benidorm to run Benidorm 10k, just a week before Spain was put into lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lockdown for some of my group is a nightmare as a few of the girls don\u2019t like running alone and found it a struggle running without the support of the group, with no company. I felt as their Run Leader that I needed to get the group involved in some activities to keep them going, be it running or walking, just to keep the momentum and keep them all motivated. I am collating all the miles that the group are running\/walking individually and I keep a running total of the miles so at the end of lockdown we can see how far across Europe we will have travelled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I set up some challenges to keep the group together and to give them a reason to go out for their daily exercise. First off one week into lockdown we had the PANTHERS challenge which consisted of a few running related activities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
P \u2013 PB over a mile<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A \u2013 Alphabet (as a group find a street name with every letter of the alphabet to make up the alphabet<\/p>\n\n\n\n
N \u2013 Negative splits for two runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
T \u2013 Twice a week run\/walk at least 3 mile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
H \u2013 Hilly route or Hill reps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
E \u2013 Early morning run before 7:30am<\/p>\n\n\n\n
R \u2013 Reverse route<\/p>\n\n\n\n
S \u2013 Streak 7 days of running at least a mile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had an Easter riddle, with a little prize for the first person to get all riddles correct. One of the group also arranged a \u2018Quiz Night\u201d every Saturday through Zoom, which is a great opportunity for us all to catch up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some other challenges to keep the girls motivated are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alphabet names \u2013 Make your name out of street signs, which one of the group suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Panther\u2019s Run Together Alone on 3rd<\/sup> May, where we all set off running solo knowing that some of the group were running too, somewhere in Pontypridd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Panther Virtual \u2018Loo roll\u2019 relay. Each member of the group made a video clip using a loo roll as a baton to do a virtual video. Lots of fun was had by all involved in this I think and there were lots of takes for some members of the group!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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