She Runs: Cardiff

5 minute read

12th September 2021

She Runs: Cardiff are a very active club in Wales who have taken part in many of our virtual runs. We caught up with Myfanwy to understand more about the club and its members.

How many members does your club have?

We have approximately 1,600 members in our private Facebook Group. We started with 30 in October 2019 and it’s just grown and grown. Most of our members are in Cardiff or South Wales but we have a few much further afield!

What range of running ability does your club cover?

Our runners range from brand new or returning runners right up to seasoned ultra-marathoners. We are open for all abilities. Our group runs are mainly social so we run at chat pace and try to stay together as much as possible. We have a lead runner and a “party at the back” tail runner for every run - so NOBODY will ever get left behind by themselves.

How important is the community element of your club?

Community is the driving force behind our club. We offer friendship & support to all women. As a community of women the online support to each other over the pandemic has been invaluable. We are not just a running group we are a support network who become friends.

Why do your members get involved in events such as Miles For Mind?

The added sense of community and support that you get taking part in a virtual team event is amazing. We all have our individual targets but collectively we run together (either virtually or in person) and support each other to achieve our goals.

During the pandemic especially, running events such as Miles for Mind have been brilliant to keep a focus and a purpose to running - with no ‘real life’ runs to train for.

Many members run for their own mental health so supporting Mind whilst running gives an added incentive to take part.

It also has to be said that the FOMO is strong amongst our group! Once one person has signed up to get a medal there is usually a flurry of interest - fear of missing out! Our members love a medal and we have a medal Monday post pretty much every week - there’s always somebody who’s got a medal from somewhere.

How important is having goals each month for runners to aim at?

Having a goal gives our runners that extra reason and motivation to get the trainers on and head out the door. The sense of pride having achieved or surpassed their personal target is great to see. 

If you have a monthly goal then it keeps you running regularly as you know if you miss a few runs it’ll get very hard to claw back the miles. 

How important is mental health for you and your members?

Mental health is very important to our members. Running is well known to help alleviate stress and help not just your physical health but your mental health too.

Almost everyone’s mental health has been affected by the events of the past year. We have regular wellbeing posts in our group and our members know that if they have a crisis all they need to do is to post on the group and there will be multiple offers of virtual and real life support. We really are like a big family.

Thanks to Myfanwy and the members at She Runs: Cardiff for a sneak into their club!

If you're part of a running club or group and want to get your members involved in our virtual events, simply, then all you need to do is head to our Events page, sign up to an event, then create a team which you can them share with your running buddies!

Team runr.