No Boundaries Discount Days at Fleet Feet

This Thursday-Saturday (4/1-4/3) all gO! and No Boundaries runners will receive 10% off all purchases at Fleet Feet Roseville and Fair Oaks. Feel free to stop in for info on shoes, nutrition, clothing, and much more! We will also have a Fleet Feet employee provide a quick educational/gear talk before Thursday's run at Sculpture Park at 6:15pm. Plan to arrive to the run 15 minutes early to get great info on the latest running gear!

Act like a horse. Be dumb. Just run.
Jumbo Elliot, Track and Field Coach

NoBo Week #1

Running Form

Proper running form should start from your head and finish at your toes. The goal of good form is to minimize the energy you expend and lessen the chance for injury. Although there is no one single “perfect” running gait, use the following as guidelines for proper running form:

Head: Keep your head slightly tilted down, looking at the ground in front of you, 10 to 15 feet ahead. Your facial muscles, jaw and neck should be relaxed. Enjoy your run!

Shoulders: Keep your shoulders relaxed and do not allow them to “slouch” forward. Hunching over will restrict the breathing passage, allowing less oxygen to get to your working muscles.

Arms: Arms should be bent at a 90-degree angle and relaxed. As you run, swing your arms forward, try not to swing them across your chest. Brush your hands past your waistband on the downswing, bringing them back behind your body. The arm movement should move in conjunction with your legs. Run with your legs, and let your arms go along for the ride!

Hands: Your thumbs and index finger should gently touch with your hand cupped, as though you are holding a potato chip that you don’t want to break. Clenching your hands is taking excessive energy away from your legs and undue stress to your upper body. Again, don’t let your hands cross over the middle of your chest- remember arms move forward for forward motion.

Torso: You want to keep your torso erect as if you are a puppet hanging on a string from above. This will allow your chest cavity to be open, which will allow easier breathing.
Hips: The hips should be facing forward, with no rotation. Your foot should strike with a heel to toe motion, directly under your hips.

Feet: Try to keep your feet low to the ground and touch the surface as light as possible. The lighter your feet touch the less pounding your body will incur (especially your joints.) Visualize yourself as if you are “running on eggshells”- this will help you stay light on your feet.

Try to change only one thing at a time and only for a brief period. To make your new effort a habit, practice will make perfect.

Welcome No Boundaries Participants!!

RUN #1 IS DONE!!!! Congratulations to all of those who took their first step to becoming a better runner this morning!! It was great to see all of the eager, smiling faces out there bright and early! I hope everyone feels the pride one gets when they start the process of making themselves better. Pat yourself on the back and don't hold back the personal pride you should be feeling. Tomorrow when you go to work, tell everyone you can that you started working toward your goal and how good that feels! As I like to say, "you may not be the fastest, you may not win the race, but you beat EVERY single person that never got out of bed!"

With that said, I look forward to seeing you all on Thursday night for our next run. You may wish to bring a small flashlight or head lamp as the sun will be going down as we run the Miner's Ravine (which will get dark quickly).

Lastly, in true gO! spirit, we cannot possibly let Isaac get away with leading his group a full MILE farther than planned without a little retaliation! So.......

Sir Isaac's 5K

From every direction
No Boundaries runners came
To train for a 5k
All their goals were the same.

Some started off fast
Some started off slow
But ne’er did it matter
Just as long as they gO!

50 runners were sent
Down the trail on their way
One mile was the distance
On this beautiful spring day.

Although there was one group
Whose leader did stray
An additional mile added
Much to their dismay.

Even Jen told Isaac
“Right now we should turn”
Only to be told
“Keep going, feel the burn!”

But according to Isaac
The runners kept up the pace
Running extra mileage
With a smile on their face.

So while you were told
10 weeks to a 5k
Little did you know Isaac’s plan:
You’ll run a 5k... TODAY!

Hoping your first run
Was as great as can be
See you on Thursday

To run 1, 2 maybe even 3!

By Michelle Banda

Welcome to the gO! Running Group Blog. This is where we will be doing all of our No Boundaries communications! Please get in the habit of checking this site weekly, if not daily, for updates, news, notes, training tips, run schedule, run locations, etc! To the right you will already find the link to the No Boundaries 10 week training plan as well as the contact info for our coaches and mentor runners. At the bottom of the page you will find the run calendar, If you click on a "NoBo" date you will be able to view that run's location. Please also feel free to read up on the gO! group's events and happenings, they are a crazy fun bunch and can be quite entertaining! We are stoked you have joined us and look forward to getting to know each one of you and helping you reach your running goals!
Coach Josh