‘If you can walk, you can run’

Mary Jennings arrives to our interview in training gear, ready to hit the streets after a talk about her "Get Running" collaboration with The Irish Times.

She is the founder of outdoor fitness company ForgetTheGym and has designed an eight-week online running course that kicks off on January 13th. It will gradually build non-runners, or lapsed runners, to a fitness level where they can run for 30 minutes non-stop.

The course is for people who think they can’t run – a taster for anyone ambivalent about dipping a toe into the world of running. At the end of the eight weeks, participants will be in a position to take part in a 5k event or plot their own local route.

“The aim of the programme is to make running accessible to everybody, even if you don’t live near a running club or are a bit intimidated by it,” says Jennings.

“Running is not just for people who are already fit and it is not just for people who are young. You do need to be sensible but if you are able to go for a walk, you are able to run.”

The course is gradual, starting with one- minute intervals of running before the tempo cranks up. The steady approach avoids the common mistake of doing too much too quickly in the New Year.

“When people go out on the 1st of January for a blast of a run, they are sore for days and think they can’t run. This way you will avoid injury and burnout.”

Weekly emails
Participants will receive a weekly email outlining the running schedule for the next week, along with links to videos packed with tips on pacing, stretching and techniques to make running easier on the body.

“The programme is online so people can play the videos on their phone and see ‘this is what I have to do today,’” says Jennings.

She will also be online one hour each week with a series of guest experts to answer questions and troubleshoot.

Since setting up ForgetTheGym in 2006, Jennings has trained more than 1,500 people to run and has noticed that the biggest barriers to running are often psychological rather than physical.

People starting out can be self-conscious about whether they are too slow or look funny.

“No one really cares what pace you are running at . . . they don’t know if you have been running for an hour or have just started, so try to forget those barriers.”

Forget the Gym is focused on exercising outdoors in the fresh air. Midweek runs take place in Sandymount, Grand Canal, Clontarf and Naas, with weekend runs in farther-flung locations.

The group also travels abroad. Last year 38 members completed the Paris marathon and in November they travelled to the South of France for the Beaujolais wine marathon (whose slogan is "Le marathon sans moderation"), to run a spectacular route that takes in the region's vineyards.

"The running holidays work really well for keeping people motivated. It doesn't have to be far away though. We have gone to Connemara, Dingle and Limerick. We will go anywhere," says Jennings.

For someone who has run marathons all over the world, she wasn’t always active. Asked if she was fit during her school and college years she lets out a laugh. “God no! I took no exercise at all really.”

A decade ago she was firmly in the “ah sure, I can’t run” camp and would not have believed the fitness and career change that was in her future.

“I understand where people are coming from because I was one of those people who thought I couldn’t do it.”

She was working as an IT consultant when an old boyfriend cajoled her into giving running a try. It led to a fitness epiphany.

While Ireland has seen explosive growth in running since the downturn, it was unusual to see someone out running when she started. "When you went for a run on the country roads, people would stop and ask if you wanted a lift."

A different person
She ran the London marathon in 2005 and loved it. "That changed something in me. Your first 5k and first marathon will make you feel like a different person."

In 2006 she left her job, got a personal training qualification and embarked on a new career. Since then she has completed 30 marathons and five ultra-marathons. In 2013 she did a 100km ultra-marathon in Italy.

She breezily mentions that the trick to running such long distances is to break it down into 5k chunks.

“It was absolutely amazing. Everyone had to wear head torches after dark and there was a huge thunderstorm. At one stage all you could hear was water falling all around you, the noise of people’s feet and the beams of light. It was just beautiful.”

That ultra-marathon took a staggering 12 hours of continuous running to complete. An impressive achievement that all started many years ago with a beginner’s course similar to “Get Running”.

She encourages people to sign up to the eight-week online course and reap the physical and mental benefits of running.

“It is quite addictive. Most people start running for weight loss and keep it up for what it does to your head.”

To sign up to the eight-week running course, use the sign up widget on this page.