Our story
How two nervous beginners ended up building runclub.info
Hi, I’m Tom. In October 2025, my girlfriend Anna and I decided to start running. We had new trainers, good intentions and about forty browser tabs of advice that disagreed with each other. This is what the first few months were like, and why they turned into this site.
Tom & Anna
Running since October 2025
Feeling self-conscious on your first run
Our first run lasted about eleven minutes. I spent most of it sure that every driver, dog walker and kid on a bike was watching me go purple. Anna wanted to find somewhere nobody would see us, which in a city means nowhere.
It took a few weeks to notice that nobody was looking. Everyone out there was busy with their own run, their own headphones and their own dodgy knee.
What helped
Running together, going out at quieter times of day, and later, joining runs where being new was normal. On a good beginner run, saying “it’s my first time” gets you someone to run with.
Finding places to run that you enjoy
We started on the pavements near home, stopping at every crossing and weaving round wheelie bins. It felt like a chore, so we kept finding reasons not to go.
That changed when we found a loop by the water with no traffic lights and a café at the end. We started looking forward to it, and then we started looking for more routes like it.
What helped
Look for a loop with few road crossings: a park, a canal towpath or a path by the water. In Greater Manchester, Heaton Park, Chorlton Water Park, Wythenshawe Park, Salford Quays and the Bridgewater Canal towpath are all popular with runners. Every runclub.info listing shows where a club meets and what the route is like: road, park, canal or trail.
What pace should a beginner run at?
Every app gave us a number, and none of them told us what it meant. So we ran every run as fast as we could, finished every run wrecked, and decided we weren’t really runners.
Then a friend told us to slow down until we could hold a conversation. It felt like cheating. It was also the first time running felt good.
What helped
Start at a pace where you can talk in full sentences. For many new runners that’s somewhere between 7 and 9 minutes per kilometre, and walking breaks are normal. When a club says “all paces welcome”, check its slowest pace group before you go. Every runclub.info listing shows pace groups in minutes per kilometre.
Should you follow a running plan?
We downloaded three running apps in the first week. One wanted us out five times a week. One wanted a heart-rate strap. One kept congratulating us on runs we hadn’t done yet. We deleted two of them.
In the end we settled on three short runs a week, on the same days and at the same times, so we never had to decide whether to go.
What helped
If you want a plan, the NHS Couch to 5K app is free and starts with 60-second runs between walks. parkrun is a free, timed 5k every Saturday morning, and walkers are welcome. Either one gives you a fixed time to turn up, which did more for us than any plan.
Finding a run club as a beginner
By January we could run 5k without stopping, and we wanted company: people at our level to run with on a weeknight and have a coffee with afterwards.
There were run clubs everywhere. Finding one that suited two beginners meant scrolling Instagram for posts from months ago, messaging organisers who never replied, and guessing what “all paces welcome” really meant. At one run, the slowest group was out of sight within the first kilometre.
When we did find the right club, we stayed for a coffee and went back the next week.
What helped
A good first club has a pace group at your speed, a no-drop rule and a proper welcome for first-timers. Those three things sit at the top of every runclub.info listing.
Why we’re making this
So we’re building the guide we wanted in October 2025.
runclub.info lists every run club in Greater Manchester, with the details that took us weeks to find: the real pace groups, whether beginners are welcome, if anyone gets left behind, what your first run is like, and where everyone goes after. Organisers can check and update their own listing, so the details stay current.
We’re starting in Greater Manchester because it’s where I’m from. It’s free for runners and free for clubs. We’re still beginners ourselves, and we’ll keep writing up what we learn.
Tom & Anna