6am Club motivation: Steph

The On 6am Club is about normal people with busy lives achieving some amazing things through early-morning runs. Each person has their own reason for running at the crack of dawn – high pressured jobs, busy family life – but the 6am Club is their common ground. The club runners have been sharing their stories with us, and this month we speak to Steph – the only female member of the club and a keen cross country runner…

“I already knew Kevin Quinn for a while, as he’s in the same athletics club as me. When I moved back home after uni and started running early before work, he told me to join him and ‘some other runners’ as they ran at a similar time. This happened to evolve as the 6am Club, running every Monday, Wednesday and Friday together. Everyone lives a mile or two away from each other, but it’s like a running bus picking people up on the way – you know what time it’ll arrive at your stop – it just works! 

“Most of the time I prefer running with other people. Easy recovery runs don’t feel like you’re running when you’re just having a conversation the whole way. Then harder sessions are always easier when you have other people helping you out around you. Now when I run alone, I have to listen to music because I’m so used to having people talking around me that it feels too quiet otherwise!

“Running early means you’re ticking something off your to do list by 7am! My weekly mileage is quite high, so getting the miles in early gives me time to go to work and rest my legs before a second run or session later in the day.

“I also start the day in a good mood. I can de-stress and chat while doing what I love – it’s just not a chore to get up early and do that.

“If you work full time or have a busy schedule in the day, you’re probably used to routine. Add in a run before the hectic day begins it’ll just become habit to roll out of bed and put on your trainers. You’ll feel a lot better later in the day knowing you already ticked that box earlier on.”

For more tips from Steph, check out her column on p15 of the January issue of Men’s Running.