Saved with a Run!
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Motivation & Inspiration
Tina Murphy, Founder, Run with Tina and Coca-Cola Thank You Fund Judge
In December 2008, I had been unemployed for nearly 6 months and was unable to find a job in my field no matter what I tried.
I had only recently moved to Dublin so not only did I feel like I had completely fallen off the career ladder, I also felt very isolated as aside from my then husband, I only knew one other person in Dublin. Unsurprisingly, I got depressed and started suffering from anxiety and panic attacks - it was truly the darkest time of my life.
To give myself a reason to go outside the door every day, I started running again. I loved it from the first step I took, even though my aerobic fitness wasn’t great. I started with running and walking, but what I found was that combining this with my years of intensive yoga practice made it so much more enjoyable. I mixed this with daily yoga and it honestly saved my life. It is well known running releases endorphins and I found it also helped me focus on the present moment and not worry about the future.
At some point I discovered beaut.ie and I made some ‘virtual friends’ that I spoke to daily. One thing led to another and soon I organised to meet some girls for a run. None of them were fit or did regular exercise but I said I’d help them. Over 8 weeks I took them to the point where they could run for 30 minutes and, more importantly, they all loved it. Very soon more girls wanted to join us so I organised another group and then another one… After a while, as the demand kept on growing, and encouraged by the girls in my running group, I decided to build Run with Tina into a business and the rest is history.
My top tips for starting a community activity/group:
- Do something you love – walking, hiking, cycling, swimming, tag, yoga, dog walking, football, tennis, park games… you do not need to be good at it but you need to love it.
- Think about the people you want to attract to your group and what YOU want to get out of it. I have always felt a strong need to help people and make a real difference so naturally I want to work with people who really need help to make a change, e.g. complete beginners – this would not suit everyone so be honest with what you want out of it. Maybe you want people to race against or people to enter a league with?
- Be organised and committed. Although it might be a free community activity, it’s important to be organised and take a business like approach. Stick to class/meeting times and places and have a plan for each session. Make sure your participants know what to expect and how the activity works – good communication is really important.
- Take charge. Any group activity needs a leader who’s able to take charge. This is necessary in many aspects – e.g. you will never find a time and venue that suits everyone so once you set the time and venue, stick with it (though you might ask around for suggestions before setting these to see what the majority of people want). Also, in the actual class/activity someone has to stand up and pull the group together, e.g. if it’s running, to guide people through warm ups, time your run and decide on a route. However, don’t worry if you have no experience of this or if the thought of it makes you nervous, you’ll gain experience in no time.
- Don’t forget marketing. Use social media, Twitter, Facebook – these are fantastic for getting the word out. Ask your friends to tell their friends, forward emails etc. Create flyers. You don’t need a lot of money to make these. I made up flyers in Word, bought a stack of coloured paper and printed them on my old inkjet printer at home. Looking back, they were awful but they did the job really well. Put them up on notice boards and anywhere you can locally.
- Have a website. This is so easy to do these days and you can do it for free.
Tina Murphy, Founder of Run With Tina, is a judge for this year’s Coca-Cola Thank You Fund. Voluntary and non-profit organisations in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are being encouraged to apply for the Coca-Cola Thank You Fund (the Fund), which will award a total of €125,000 in five separate grants this year. The grants will serve as major funding for innovative projects with ideas to get people and communities moving through sport and activity based programmes.
Applications for the Fund are being accepted online until 6pm on the 16th of June at www.coca-cola.ie/thankyou
