FAMILY PICKS UP THE PACE
For ABQ family, running isn’t just a way to be fit; it’s a way to make friends
For one Albuquerque family, running can be a way to get fit and make friends.
For Ted and Brenda Borek, running has become a family affair. What started for Brenda as a way to meet active people and provide relief from a busy work schedule developed into a way to strengthen her connection with her husband and adult children.
Brenda admits to being the instigator into the family’s participation in Albuquerque Fit after reading an article about the 14-week training program in the Journal. But she said she had no idea that her daughter, Rachel, 23, and son, Tony, 21, would join them.
“Ted is a triathlete and had considered running as his weakest event,” she said, “so he offered to do it with me.”
Rachel joined a week after her parents. And Tony joined the family for the fall training program.
Brenda, who participated in the group’s “Couch to 5K” program and ran the Run for the Zoo as her first event in 2016, said the best part of the group is always having someone to run with at your pace as well as making connections in the community.
She completed the 5K in the Run for the Zoo in 2016 and has her sights on the 10K for the spring.
Albuquerque Fit has been a fixture in the area for many years, providing a structure for runners of all abilities to train for events.
One of the organizers often says the program is a “social group with a running problem.”
But Brenda says that social aspect of the program has been one of the big reasons she has stayed with running. And she plans to participate when Albuquerque Fit launches its Spring program later this month.
“There is always someone to run with,” she said. “And even though Ted and I run in different pace groups, we make connections with others in the group” who may have multiple family members running.
She says it also gives the family an additional common interest that sparks dinnertime conversations.
Registration for the group’s spring program is open online at usafitalbuquerque.com, and the group will have its first meeting Jan. 28 at the Sagebrush Community Church, 6440 Coors NW. Registration will start at 8:30 a.m.
According to Gary Schancer, organizer of the group, the program includes a beginner walk/run group and regular 5K, 10K and half-marathon groups.
“We offer pace groups to all our members so that they will always have numerous other runners who run at their same pace each week,” he said.
Members are given a schedule of midweek training runs, depending on their goals. Schancer says those plans are built with busy lifestyles in mind, so they keep members moving toward their goals while requiring only a moderate amount of time on the road.
The program will meet for 14 weeks on Saturdays, and the goal event will be the Run for the Zoo on May 7. Before the Saturday pace group runs, the organization provides mini-seminars on training topics specific to running as an endurance sport.
The group has two weekly group runs — one is a speed workout on a track, and the other is a hill workout.
“Our goal is to help runners stay fit and healthy as well as enjoy and improve their running,” Schancer said.