Many serious runners choose the treadmill over the great outdoors when the weather turns cold, but even an especially snowy winter didn’t stop Sharon Streif from hitting the road in mid-January for the inaugural 5K of the Jamestown Running Club, which she founded after seeing a surprising number of other solo runners out braving the snow and wind in her neighborhood. Believe it or not, a half-dozen or more other runnersin town have been joining Streif and her husband, Matt, ever since on the club’s weekly jogs, skipping just one week on account of a blizzard.
The distance is manageable - almost anyone in reasonable shape can run a 5K - and the route – plotted online to avoid traffic and big hills – is scenic, going through the heart of Jamestown village, along the bay and down to the beach.
It might be early spring, but outdoor running still requires dedication - not to mention warm tights, layers, earmuffs and mittens. “I’ve been surprised, because the weather has been terrible, but we’ve had a couple of people who’ve shown up every week,” says Streif. It’s not all hard-core runners, either: some members of the fledgling club are beginners, and a few aren’t even Jamestown residents.
“Personally, it keeps me motivated,” to be part of a regularly scheduled club run, says Streif, who belonged to two running clubs when she lived in Boston. Anyone is welcome to join the Jamestown Running Club, which meets at 9am every Saturday at the Lawn Avenue Elementary School. Future plans include a second weekly run on Wednesday evenings – and perhaps some more formal socializing than chatting over steaming cups of morning coffee in the school parking lot.
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