Running at the Mouth

with Margot Manning

intraining Running Centre is on the move!!

Our building is getting a makeover with new dining and coffee shops to replace the running track you have all used to test your running shoes.  

Don’t worry though… we have a new track being built just around the corner in Milton.   

We can’t wait to show you our stylish new location…but you are going to have to wait!!  Our big reveal with a new look shop, Podiatry & Physiotherapy Clinic, and running track won’t happen until October.

While we all wait in anticipation for our big reveal, let me share with you some of the experiences we’ve had since moving from Toowong into Park Rd 15 years ago.  

• Our Easter Sunday Race turned into the Twilight Running Festival
• Race entries are no longer paid by a cheque in the mail…  It’s all online!
• Our Podiatry clinic expanded with new pods and a physio
• The intraining Marathon School formalised
• Our training groups tripled in size and some of our runners, wanting to share their love of running with the community, became coaches. We now have a team of nearly 40 coaches and a running club of over 1000 members.
• The shoe wall evolved from a stark white and navy selection of shoes to a rainbow wall full of bright, irridescant running shoes.  
• New Balance finally made the leap from its traditional white leather and blue suede running shoes to become multi-tonal – but they are still known by their number!
• “Born to Run” generated the fantasy of getting in touch with our earth roots advocating the barefoot running fad only to be replaced now by shoes that are built on clouds –  plus you all now ask “what’s the pitch (drop) of the shoe!!”
• GPS watches revolutionised racing by replacing the handwritten splits on our arms, removing the mathematical tension of pace calculation at 15km of a half marathon, and letting you know how “accurate” a race measure maybe – all with a simple buzz on your wrist
• The parkrun phenomenon began
• Carbon fibre plates have created a generation of feather-light racing shoes
• AND my all-time favourite… seeing 100’s and 100’s of runners experience that joy from running when they reach their goal, meet new running friends, and become a part of one of the most amazing communities in the world… the running community. 

To sum this all up is a quote from my husband’s favourite runner and the first ever female Olympic Marathon winner (1984), Joan Benoit Samuelson…

“Life (and running) is not all about time but about our experiences along the way.”

Thanks for being a part of our running experiences and we can’t wait to share many many more with you in our running world.  

Watch out for more developments at intraining Running Centre over the next year…  and keep running!!!

Margot

P.S.  What have you seen change in your last 15 years of running?? Send me a message so I can add it to the list!!

P.P.S.  Did you know that when I first started working in the shop (29 years ago!!!) brand new running shoes did not have their laces in them.   That’s when I learnt how to have conversations with people… sitting on the shop floor (in Taringa), lacing up shoes!!