Foxy Ladies Running Club

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  • Run Around the World 2020

    Run Around the World 2020

    Lockdown has been going on a long while and during that time the Foxy Ladies have been doing some great challenges. In June a virtual challenge popped up in my Facebook feed from the amazing ‘Run Things’. Run Things is a virtual challenge organisation who raises money for Mind the mental health challenge which is a great cause and one close to mine and lots of other foxes hearts. https://runthings.co.uk/ My ears pricked up as at Christmas we had participated in a challenge called ‘Run up to Christmas’ which had been lots of fun and earnt us a fabulous Christmas Tree Medal.

    Virtual Is the way forward during the uncertainty

    The great thing about a virtual challenge is that instead of attending a ‘Race day’ at an official time and place, runners can take part in the time and place of their choice and can run a distance they are comfortable with. This meant that Foxes who were injured could also take part in this challenge which made it really inclusive. It was also a great way to increase motivation for all members of the club. You also received a medal at the end and it was an ‘eco’ wooden medal!

    The Challenge

    The idea of the challenge was to try and run as far round the world as you can during the month of July. Not only were you running and seeing your own total of miles run grow but you were contributing to the grand total of miles for the Foxy Ladies team.

    The stats

    Every run counted and we had 85 Foxy Ladies taking part. The team spirit was amazing and everyone was getting out there and really adding to the fantastic total of 7839km / 4570 miles that we completed during the challenge. Total duration was 1324 hours of running which is over 55 days. and Foxy Ladies ran the furthest of all the teams representing Team South!

    The feedback was really positive with ladies saying how motivating they found the challenge especially as summer running is much harder and then nicely topped off with the satisfaction that we raised a considerable sum for ‘Mind’.

    By Clare Packer – Foxy Organiser for the RATW Challenge

    Sarah Kempster and her eco RATW medal.
  • Virtual Time Trial Relay

    Virtual Time Trial Relay

    Running a virtual relay

    Many of us foxes have managed our lockdown running virtual races which have really helped keep our motivation up.  When we heard about the Seaford Striders Time Trial Relay it sounded like a great opportunity to run a virtual race but do it together as a team!

    They were also raising money for a fantastic charity – The WOLO Foundation – who give help and practical support to families affected by cancer living in Sussex. https://www.facebook.com/thewolofoundation/

    The Time Trial relay required 30 foxes to run at half an hour intervals from 6am on Saturday 25th July until 9pm that evening.  Every 30 minutes a fox set off on their run and had to cover as many miles as possible in that time.  All our miles were then recorded and totted up to give us a total number of miles for our day of running.

    Race day

    It was a glorious morning to start the relay and our first section of runners had a hot and sticky run.  As the day progressed the weather got worse! We saw all four seasons in one day with our poor runners in the middle of the day facing wind, rain, and hail. As well as our 30-minute time trial, many of us foxes completed other runs including our normal Saturday foxy sessions and duathlons too.  Our team managed to run a total of 89 miles across the day!

    Team spirit

    What got us through the day was the thought of covering 16 hours of running between us knowing that every 30 minutes we were virtually handing over the baton to the next team member.  Along the way, we shared our distances, maps and selfies with each other – some in the heat, some in the horrendous wind and pouring rain.  In true foxy style, we created a collage of team photos and a special video of all our runs which we shared with the rest of the foxy family. 

    In spite of all our cancelled races over the last 6 months, we have still managed to run together and share our successes. Thank you, Seaford Striders, for a fantastic team event!

    For more information and for future events please click on the following link. https://www.facebook.com/SeafordStriders/

    By Emma Hill

  • The Great Escape

    The Great Escape

    Prison Break Foxy Style

    An idea had been brewing in my head for many months about arranging a Prison Break style run for our members, originally planned for the end of May. Corona quashed a lot of our well laid plans but when restrictions eased we were able to go ahead with the planned “Great Escape” on the 12th July.

    Solving clues before the off

    Members organised themselves into teams of 5 or 6, named their teams appropriately (there were some hilarious team names) donned outfits or fancy dress and wearing war paint were geared up for the game ahead. A poem with clues and some photos were released on facebook at 8am. This gave them the mystery meeting point and they were tasked to get their whole team there for the start at 0845. Some teams didn’t quite get all the clues from the poem and some had difficulty finding the stone in the middle of Cissbury but eventually everyone was together (sticking to social distance rules) and the games could begin.

    Win a leader

    Each team had questions to answer about their leaders and were able to win a leader (if in team of five) to help them on their quest, if not they won points which went towards their grand total. Points were also awarded for best outfits, team names, first team back, furthest distance ran, team photos and getting the team to the start.

    Eleven teams took part and set off from the middle of Cissbury Ring just after 9am and had 45 minutes to run as far as possible and then take a group photo in their location and send a map or pin drop for the distance to be calculated later ….. as the crow flies.

    Running amok all over Cissbury

    Some teams choose rural routes taking them on hilly climbs, some took to the roads and headed for the seafront, others were strategic in not running too far away so they could be first back and some went and took it easy in their team members back garden!!

    It was a really hot day but so many laughs were had and they all did so well, encouraging their team members some of whom they had not met before the day. When they returned back to base, tired from the running and the heat, they were rewarded with cold watermelon and oranges and water to freshen them up.

    Scores were totted up afterwards and distances calculated and MADgirlsONNA run were the overall winners. Well done to all our teams and Leaders that took part thank you for giving up your Sunday mornings

    As the event was such a success and after receiving many members requests this will now become an annual event. Wahoo!

  • Not quite business as usual

    Not quite business as usual

    We have been eagerly following any developments the government has put out regarding exercising in numbers. Once a change has happened, we have then waited for UK Athletics and or England Athletics to confirm the statement and follow their advice. In the last ten days we have been able to resume mini group sessions which is 5 members plus 1 leader which has been wonderful.

    We have ensured we are mainly sticking to wide open green spaces or trail runs to keep off the pavements as much as possible for the time being. This makes our members feel safer and respects the publics space. We have ensured all members are adhering to social distancing guidelines and that leaders take all necessary appropriate measures for hygiene and safety.

    As a result, the ladies have come away beaming from ear to ear after each run or session and have really appreciated having that connection again. It takes a lot more administration to coordinate but is so worthwhile. All the leaders are pulling together to offer extra sessions to accommodate all the members sometimes running 3 sessions in a row, when that would use to have been one session.

    Learn to run jogs along nicely…

    We have managed to continue coaching our ‘learn to run’ ladies who had just started running before the Corona Pandemic had hit hard in the UK and lockdown had occurred.

    We had launched two new courses at the beginning of March on a Monday evening and Saturday morning. Both courses were sold out and in full swing at week 4,3 respectively. We had to stop these courses with immediate effect when lockdown happened.

    Understandably at the time not many of the ladies were new to running and felt uncomfortable going out on their own doing solo runs. The whole point of a learn to run group is to have the support of other people going thourgh the same thing. We shared homework details and expected timings with the ladies each week and encouraged those who wished to continue to do so. The ladies found it hard to stay motivated this way so we started to look at the best ways to keep them going.

    Making it work

    We discovered the joys of virtual runs and set about continuing in this way until restrictions were lifted. We set up mini groups on messenger and dialled in with the camera so that we could see the ladies and run with them. We all leave our houses at the same time and run solo along the streets or greens and chat to them about anything and everything until its time for there 1 minute walk break.

    Sessions carried on virtually until we were allowed to exercise with one person outside of our household. Leaders then started running to meet individuals still on virtual chat with the rest of the group so that everyone could stick to the same timings.

    Just recently as the restrictions have changed to 5 people plus a leader we are now able to resume some mini group sessions. We have lots of little pockets of ladies that are at different weeks/timings to each other but the aim is to eventually bring them all back together in one group as we reunite.

    Last week we surpised some of our dedicated runners who carried on regardless through lockdown with their graduation run, they completed 5km non stop so received their certificates and welcome information to the club. We expect to see several more ladies graduate in the next few weeks and then resume mini sessions with the rest of the ladies over the summer.

    Cheers – Graduation Day for Kat and Sandra
  • Lockdown Life at FLRC

    Lockdown Life at FLRC

    The Challenges continue….

    Keeping our members engaged and motivated during lockdown has not only had our leaders becoming even more creative than usual with the challenges but its kept our ladies busy with all sorts of activities from our own version of Cluedoh to indoor strength and conditioning work like balancing on one leg, and from socially distanced team relays to duathlons. Read on to find out a little more about what we have been getting up to.

    Team Relay

    Teams of ladies virtually got together for our relay challenge. The nature of the task meant they had to be creative with their videos or pictures recording the event. They also had to come up with a clever or funny team name and plan routes to accommodate all the runners in their team, while adhering to the social distancing guidelines.

    Ten teams took part with 125 ladies altogether and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the task and particularly when they handed over their virtual baton to the next runner. Prizes were awarded based on the most creative presentation which made it hard to judge as so many teams pulled out some cracking videos. Some teams clocked up impressive mileage over the day with one doing 80 miles between them. Team members from ‘For Fox Sake why do you live there’ were delivered homemade cream tea to celebrate their win.

    Just a small selection of the teams that took part.

    Map My Letter

    We have recently seen the ‘RouLetter’ challenge, each member was given a letter to run and record in a map. All the letters were then collated in a post and all members had chance to descramble them to form popular saying or phrase. It kept some of our members busy for hours, both running the letters and putting together the phrase. Neither were as easy it looked!

    Virtual Family Sports Day

    A challenge for the whole family to take part in one sunny Sunday. As many family members could take part and single parent families could join up virtually with other households. Points were awarded for each activity as well as the number achieved and contestants got to choose between two different activities on each round. After an initial 5km walk run or cycle option the activities included ;- skipping, hula hooping, keepie uppies, wheelbarrow or garden relays, press ups and sit ups, egg and spoon laps and activity course carrying water.

    It was great to see the videos and pictures come through of the families enjoying the challenges . Team Godden were our overall winners and won a delicious homemade fresh cream and strawberry sponge cake.

    Leah’s Duathlon Challenge

    Leah set the latest challenge by encouraging the ladies to try something new. A Duathlon (which is Run Bike Run consistently one after the after) with three different options to suit all abilities and the option to take part indoors on treadmill and static bike. The choices were;

    SUPERSPRINT– 1.5km Run 10k Bike 1.5km Run

    SPRINT 2.5km Run 21Km Bike 5Km Run

    STANDARD 5km Run 42km Bike 10km Run

    FOXY CUBS (family friendly version) 1.5km Run 5km Bike 2km Run.

    So many of the ladies embraced it along with their families, kids and partners all getting involved and enjoying taking part in a new type of exercise. Many said the second run after the bike ride took its toll as they got off the bike their legs either felt like lead or jelly!

    We continue to also keep them moving and entertained whilst at home with recipe ideas and nutrient suggestions, live workouts, live interviews with members and leaders and informative videos.

  • VE DAY 2020

    VE DAY 2020

    A touching tribute to those who fought for our freedom.

    Friday the 8th of May 2020 marked 75 years since victory in Europe. On this day 75 years ago everyone in towns and cities across the country came out to celebrate the victory with our Armed Forces and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

    75 years later and the ability to celebrate together is very different due to Covid 19 but the desire to mark the momentous occasion is still very strong.

    Foxy Ladies members signed up for the Care for Veterans 5k & 10k virtual run. Outside the home of the Veterans at the Queen Alexandra hospital, Worthing, our members paid tribute with their attendance for the two minute silence. Other ladies choose to be there when the Spitfire flew three flyovers (on its journey around England) paying tribute to those that made the ultimate sacrifice. The virtual events raised an amazing £1800.

    Pheobe, Fundraising Officer at Care for Veterans said to all participants

    “Thank you so much for taking part in “Victory for Veterans VE Day Virtual Race” on Friday the 8th of May. Together you have walked, ran, cycled or swam over 1000km and have raised an incredible £1800! This will make such a difference to the residents here at Care for Veterans, Worthing.”

    We were humbled to be part of this amazing day and pleased we could do something to mark such an occasion and support a very worthy local cause. Our thanks to Pheobe for organising the virtual event in these very challenging times. For more information and if you wish to donate please see https://www.careforveterans.org.uk/

    By Sinead Clayton

  • 2.6 Challenge exceeds expectations!

    2.6 Challenge exceeds expectations!

    The idea of the UK wide 2.6 challenge was to raise money for the charities who would usually receive money through the Running of the London Marathon. As you maybe aware all running races have been cancelled whilst the Corona Virus pandemic continues. However the charities that would normally benefit also have to continue their good work which is difficult without the funding they usually receive at this time of year.


    Our amazing group of ladies pledged to cover 260 miles on Sunday 26th April as part of this challenge and we absolutely smashed that target and ending up running 734 miles between 115 foxes and 8 fox cubs all on solo runs (sticking to the social distancing guidelines).
    It was a truly incredible day and we ran 474 more miles than the target we had set.
    We have raised a fantastic £7,141 with gift aid (as of 5/5/2020) which completely exceeded our expectations. Each charity will receive over £1,000.

    All five of the local charities were chosen and voted for by the members of the club


    THANK YOU to all the amazing ladies that took part and to everyone for your donations and words of support and a massive Thank you to Emma Hill, Foxy Lady member and event organiser.
    The Foxy Team spirit was felt everywhere on that Sunday and we are so proud of all our efforts and fund raising achievements.

    Amazing amount of 2.6 challenge runners
    All our runners maps
  • Round and Round your garden…..

    Round and Round your garden…..

    Amy Perry makes Foxy History running a garden marathon !!

    The 19th April should have been Amy’s first marathon in Brighton along with thousands of other runners and lots of first time foxes.

    However like all other large gatherings & races and events, the marathon has been postponed until September. By which time the world is hoping the Corona Pandemic will be over and things will be starting to return to normal.

    Many of the Foxy ladies had trained so hard through the winter months and were devastated after all their hard work and effort with long training runs. Of course the ladies completely understand the need to cancel due to the seriousness of this pandemic. Many now have to make the difficult decision whether to defer to next year or train through the summer for a September marathon.

    The build up

    Amy decided she definitely wanted to do her marathon on the day she was supposed to but with lockdown she had to make some alternative plans. She had read some articles recently about men doing garden marathons but had not seen any women doing them. Amy measured her garden and mapped it on strava and worked out 44 laps equalled 1 mile. So Amy had to run 1,153 laps to complete her marathon.

    Deciding only a couple of weeks before that she was going to do it, despite her husband Will trying to talk her out of it, Amy did not make a big deal out of what she was going to do. She shared her goal with a few of her running buddies and put a post on the foxy page the day before saying this was the only marathon she would ever win.

    On the day …

    Amy started at 8am in the morning and was thankful to have her family with her for support. Husband Will joined in for a half marathon – his furthest ever distance, and faithful dog Stanley was regularly at her heels. Foxy ladies popped by at a socially acceptable distance, to offer their support. Warm wishes were received on social media and through the live videos that Amy’s daughter streamed through out the day. Recording live on face book for the final mile the family arranged a finishing tape of toilet roll for Amy to cross through. Exhausted but triumphant, Amy was pleased to have finished her unique garden marathon in 5 hours 50 minutes.

    What an amazing achievement that takes not only physical strength but a lot of mental strength too. We are all super proud of you Amy. This is the first ever garden marathon in Foxy History.

  • Going mad or staying sane?

    Going mad or staying sane?

    Finding ways to motivate our members and ourselves during the lockdown has been not only fun and at times challenging but rewarding and emotional.

    Everytime we have set a challenge for our ladies they have not only risen to it but absolutely exceeded it and done it in style.

    Our challenges so far….

    Picture Theme

    Each group were set a “theme” for their photos and asked to submit their pictures on the days they would usually attend sessions. These were some of the themes we had the ladies finding…. something that smells – nice or nasty, out looking for something red, pretty churches, something round, a “seat with a view”, post boxes, spring flowers, favourite hills, sending in baby photos or family photos for guess the member, sea views and pouting pics.

    7 7 Challenge

    We have set them virtual team challenges like the 7 miles a day for 7 days, where as a virtual team of 4 the ladies have needed to complete 7 miles between them each day whether it was walking, running or cycling. They had to submit their mileage at the end of each day to one of our leaders Clare, without telling rest of club their distances. The pictures , collages and videos that were created by the teams were creative imaginative and heart warming to say the least. Prizes were awarded for furthest distance accumulated, best team name and then the winning team was picked at random from all the entries.

    Teams coming together virtually to run and exercise

    Bingo Bongo Bonkers!

    We had 101 members take part in our Bingo challenge. Every member was sent a bingo card, they had to collect 2 numbers each day of the week and make sure they were in the photo with the number. They could join in at home if they were self isolating or in a daily walk, run or cycle. The number collecting was inspiring from road signs to bus stops from drain cover to vehicle registrations, from house numbers to padlocks and from numbers of fence panels to numerical painted sheep ! By the end of it everyone was obsessed with collecting numbers. A winner was chosen at random and another picked for best photo.

    Live online workouts

    Lesley one of our leader and qualified PT instructor takes an online live class every Thursday evening at 7pm and has various fancy dress theme each week so that even our littlest foxy cubs want to join in. We have seen families working out dressed as super heroes, colours of the rainbow and cowboys and Indians and TV characters. The strength and conditioning classes have been great at keeping the ladies on track with their fitness as well as the second offering of a class on a Saturday morning running by Julia, workouts have included strength bands, body weight classes and abs n butt blasters as well as using hand weights.

    Indoor exercise challenges

    Added into all the above, leaders and members have challenged each other with the following home workouts….

    • “Bring Sally Up” squat / press up or tricep dip challenge
    • “Your name” in exercises workout
    • Cha Cha Slide plank routine
    • Baby shark abs session
    • Hold the Plank challenge

    Plus loads more and more to come ….

    We have also been providing informational videos including foam roller tips and techniques . A series of videos focusing on injuries with detailed hip injury advice and exercises and plantar fasciitis advice from our own Sarah Morriss. Sarah is a Foxy runner and sports therapist at the Sprint Injury Clinic https://www.facebook.com/SprintInjuryClinic/

    Free virtual online sport injury clinic appointments with our leader and sports injury therapist Sinead Clayton. As soon as these were offered she was booked out solid with appointments for two days.

    We are also doing one to one live interviews with members and their running stories.

    With lockdown set to continue for at least the next three weeks we have much more in store for the ladies. The next challenge is called “Cluedo” and has just launched this week.

  • Corona Virus impacts felt throughout the running community

    Corona Virus impacts felt throughout the running community

    Due to the outbreak and now pandemic scale of Corona Virus all running clubs have been asked from 17 March to completely cease any training sessions and meetings until at least the end of April*. All races and large gatherings have been cancelled. Following government guidelines and England Athletics advice https://www.englandathletics.org/athletics-and-running/news/coronavirus-statement/ all Foxy Ladies sessions were stopped with immediate effect.

    As a club our members health and well being is at the forefront of everything we do, we have been closely following and adhering to the governments guidelines at every step.

    Pulling together

    It is of course one of the most worrying times we have ever seen, most of us have never experienced or seen a pandemic like this before. Everything grinding to a halt, NHS pushed to the limit, schools and colleges closed, airlines and travel halted, restaurants and pubs closed and small businesses forced to close with no certainty when or if they will reopen.

    Many of our members are affected in one form or another, we have many who are self employed, NHS and care workers working long or extra shifts, self isolating with medical conditions, home schooling and caring for vulnerable and the elderly.

    We are all pulling together as a community, I have been touched by our members buying shopping for each other, conducting their solo runs by passing peoples house to wave through the window and bring a smile to their faces.  Alternatively simply getting together virtually for interactive online calls to keep each other going .

    Keeping it going

    The one thing we are all clinging on to at the moment is that we are allowed out once a day to exercise, whether that’s a walk, run or cycle and for many this helps their mental and physical health and well being.

    We continue to encourage our members to take their outdoor exercise whilst we are allowed, by setting virtual solo or team challenges. We are also putting on classes for strength and conditioning and injury prevention videos. Our members are enjoying live workout videos and we aim to get the whole family involved with fun challenges to keep them engaged and motivated.

    *Update England Athletics have now extended this until the end of May.