Write This Run Conference

One thing I didn’t expect from this weekend was to meet quite so many Santana fans but it just goes to show that there’s more than meets the eye to the people who attended the Write This Run conference at the Running Show this year.

Laura… not talking about sports bras

For those of you not in the know, Write This Run is a community for bringing people who are passionate about running and writing together. I’d known about them for a while, had heard excellent things about their workshops, met the girls at the Women’s Running 10k in London earlier in the year and so pounced on the opportunity to attend their second conference.

The Better Blogging panel

A rather over air-conditioned room at the back of the Running Show venue at Sandown park hosted around 5 hours of truly inspirational talks and panels which were broken up into themes which were in turn broken up by lunch (provided) and coffee breaks. My favourite personalities of the day were Jody Raynsford, Bangs and a Bun, Sophie Walker and Robbie Britton who made me belly laugh and is responsible for inspiring me to try 24 hour events, thereby giving my mum a few more grey hairs. The day was rounded off with a choice of a yoga session or a running techniques class. Also included in the ticket price was entry to the show and the 5k or 10k run on Sunday, which Idecided to take full advantage of.

Trying out a wordplay bag in the coffee break

Technically we had some time to look around the show before, during coffee and lunch breaks but really most of us just wanted to chat and get to know each other. Although I once again failed to pluck up the courage to go and talk to Bangs, I had a lovely time chatting to Lucy from Lucy Lemon, Lucy from Black and Tabby Runs, the Veggie Runners and Katherine Selby, Christina Macdonald and one of the lovely photographers from Women’s Running. In fact I got randomly chatting to quite a lot of people, even outside of the conference. I love that about the running community… it’s so friendly!

Brands and Bloggers panel

Indeed we created a bit of a buzz at the show all weekend. Almost every stand I went to asked if I was with the conference and when I went back to look around the Running Show properly on Sunday I got chatting to someone from the Run Mummy Run community (identified thanks to the funkycompression socks) who had thought about going to the conference but didn’t. I was fairly singing its praises and reducing my chances of getting a ticket next time.

As I sat in my car afterwards eating a bag of chips, bought purely because I needed to warm up from the inside, I reflected on the day. I’d come away with a fantastic goody bag including a lululemon yoga mat, nicely relaxed after a half hour of (chilly) yoga and a glass of vino from the after event social at the G!ro café down the road. I had met some great people, become inspired, enthused and felt full of confidence. That feeling hasn’t really left yet. And despite lusting over lots of lovely new kit and innovations I managed to resist and only spend a total of £10 - result!

Socialising at the G!ro Cafe

Oh and the Santana fans… well it so happened that after the show I was going to see Viva Santana at the Boom Boom club down the road in Sutton. Everyone I mentioned it to claimed to really enjoy Santana’s music… who’d have thought!