Find the motivation through the community to run all winter

You know the feeling. A new year has begun, and your conscience tells you that you should take on your running shoes and run. Momentarily, the rain is pouring down outside and in the afternoon the weather forecast predicts, that it will be replaced by snow and sleet.

For many, it is a challenge to go out during winter. Learn how you can find the motivation to keep up your spirits during the dark months. The activity is running, and the keyword is a community.

Written by: Line Kremmer Pedersen, Project coordinator at Stay Safe Runners and Cand.Scient in sports with psychology as a minor.

The running society

The running sport in Denmark today is one of the most popular sports-activities and can be considered as a national sport. Nationwide, every third Danish grown-up citizen is running. Studies show that urbanites are running the most –  40% of the population in Copenhagen and Aarhus are running.

The running sport is an easy and flexible everyday-sport that suits a society that continually navigates between individuality and community. And exactly the flexibility and the need for an individual form of sport, that easily can be adjusted to a busy weekday suites the lifestyle of urbanites. Normally running is a sport for individuals.

In Denmark, a tendency is ricing to run in a community – like running communities and self-organized urban running communities – and exactly the values of the community are what we will talk about in this blog post.

At Orbiloc we value the community. Therefore, we assembled a team of running-ambassadors, from several of the biggest running clubs and communities, including RUNAAR, AGF Atletik, adidas Runners Copenhagen, NBRO Running and Runners DK. They love to run. And they love running together!

“Together we are stronger together we are having more fun”

Team spirit. Teamwork. Support. Friendship. Community!

We know this from many other branches of sports, so why not apply it to running? To run in a community gives the individual sport a new dimension – a dimension that our Orbiloc Safety Runners have brought to their attention:

“I love to run accompanied by others and to share the enjoyment with them. Repeated running experiences have shown me that we are stronger together and that it is more fun together too. Together we can motivate and inspire each other. This is also the reason why I always try to invite others to run along with me.” – Kathrine Hoejgaard Hansen, adidas Runners Copenhagen.

Mikkel shares Kathrine’s passion for running with others and says that you can get a lot of energy from the running communities: “I love to run along with others. It fills me up with energy to be with other people, listen to their stories, seeing their smiles and feel the vibe.”
– Mikkel Andresen, RUNAAR

The vibe is exactly what both Kathrine and Mikkel see as something distinctive. Running clubs and –communities are social rendezvous where runners share their experiences about training, diet, injuries, products, running events, and much more. Therefore, there’s a lot of knowledge and inspiration to get from both new and experienced runners.

Lise is running on a high level and has through the past couple of years developed her own running career. Nonetheless, she finds it very important that running has to be fun: “At AGF I get motivated by my fantastic club-mates. Therefore, it means a lot to me to maintain the social aspect in my training although I am serious about my training. Running has to be fun!” – Lise Kandborg Soerensen, AGF Atletik

The possibility to combine “fun” with “serious” in the running communities is also what Julie likes: “When I started in the running community RUNAAR in 2015 I started taking my running seriously. It was at that point that my passion for running really emerged. RUNAAR has boosted my joy for running and given me a lot of good running experiences and friendships.” – Julie Hoegh Rasmussen, RUNAAR.

When the community is the motivating factor

Many take a break from running in winter because it is dark and cold outside. But the long break from running means that it is getting even harder to begin running again as soon as the urge for running is returning. Some might experience, that the physical fitness has changed or that the muscles that are being used for running have gotten weaker.

When you are experiencing difficulties in running alone, a running companion can be beneficial. The social aspect can be a motivating factor to keep running during winter. The advantage in running with others is that you are obliged in another way then when running alone. It gets easier to run when you know that somebody is waiting for you.

Do you miss a running mate? See our Orbiloc Safety Runners here to get good advice and to get inspired or follow us on Instagram: @StaySafeRunners

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