Rebekah Mason, Campus Carrier Staff Writer
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the past few weeks, a running group has met outside of the McAllister building. Sophomore Joseph Aucoin came up with the idea for this group with the hopes of having others fall in love with running the way he has. He started running in seventh grade and has been an avid runner ever since, running in the Berry Half Marathon and Rome Half Marathon this year. Joseph started the group with the help of fellow classmate, sophomore Nicholas Lorch.
The goal of this group is to “form a solid running community at Berry that is able to support the activity so that no one who is trying to get into running or keep up with training feels alone” Aucoin said.
The group is open to all skill levels and has attracted on average three to five people per session, but they hope to grow. The turnout has been highly dependent on weather conditions according to Lorch. They had around 10 runners on a day that was “sunny and seventy-five”, a few weeks back.
The runs this semester have varied based on those who participate. If numbers increase they hope to implement a system of splitting runners into groups based on skill set and assigning each group with a captain. These groups would be in place to help accommodate different paces and distances.
“We set up the interest group with a few captains who are able to run with more experienced runners that would like special training as well as stay back with beginners so that we can provide the encouragement and advice necessary to find a love of running,” Aucoin said.
Runners participating in this group can expect safe and organized runs that are focused on physical health and development. To reduce any possible injury, each run begins with a warm up and a cool down.
“We will not push a beginner past his limits or force a more advanced runner to stay back from hers,” Aucoin said.
The group invites any student, faculty, staff or family to come and participate. According to Aucoin, they try to make running as fun as possible by playing games, singing and cracking jokes all the time.
“We do our best to leave stress behind so that any and all can have a pleasant experience,” Aucoin said.