Melkesyre: pushing each other to new heights

If you want to take your running experience to the next level, joining a group of runners is a great way of doing it. In August this year I joined Team Melkesyre which is a group of incredibly inspiring, motivating, and fun loving runners. I had met a few of them during the Skåla Opp race a couple of weeks earlier, and I got curious about their weekly training sessions. After emailing with them a couple of times, I showed up at one of the Saturday uphill interval training sessions.

These people are extremely nice and welcoming! I felt a part of the team already at the first session, and I even got a team t-shirt the same day! This first practice was an awesome experience;  it gave me a real "high"; a huge boost of energy, inspiration, and motivation. I was quite relieved to see that the team members are at various levels. Some are super good, participating in many races and achieving top rankings, some are new beginners, and there are people from every level in between. The age range is really wide as well. However, I must admit that I was very happy to discover many people in my age group. I find the great achievements of people in their 40s or 50s (or older!) extra inspiring and motivating; it gives me hope that anything I want is achievable, and I can still get better and faster for many years to come.

The stories of these wonderful people are surprisingly similar, and I could group them into:

• Those who were quite inactive until their 30s (like me!!), and started running and training seriously during the last 10 years
• Those who were active when they were young, then had some 10-15 years of inactive life style, and now they are back in shape
• Those who have been in great shape and racing all their lives

The most unbelievable part is that some of the people from the first category are among the fastest ones, racing and winning all the time. Everything is possible if you just want it bad enough and work hard enough for it! I just cannot describe how inspiring and motivating I find this. It is a source of encouragement every single time I train with them; actually every single day. And the best of all: no matter which shape they were in when they joined Melkesyre, they have quickly become much better and they keep improving all the time. Most of them reach new personal best at every race that they participate, and it is great inspiration to read about their experiences and see pictures that are generously shared on Facebook.

Training together with others gives a unique opportunity to push yourself further than you do when you train alone. Especially in such a group, where most people are better than you (at least to start with), you get pushed all the time, and you improve very quickly. You cannot imagine how nice these guys and gals are in motivating and pushing others. Every time somebody passes me (happens a lot, yes), I get encouraging  comments like, "Come on", "up with the chin",  "don't stop", "keep up with me", "try to pass me", etc. In addition to the weekly training sessions, there are also plenty of social activities within the group. I am really looking forward to joining some of those and getting to know the team members better.

Everybody is welcome at Melkesyre, so you might want to give it a try. There are also such groups at many workplaces, and I have friends who have had similar very uplifting experiences with other running groups. Find one that works for you, and try to go to at least one of their practices every week.

Together we are stronger and faster!