Striders Spotlight: Denise Tinant

Today's Strider in the Spotlight is Denise Tinant. Denise joined the club in 2014 and is currently the club membership secretary as well being a run leader.

Denise Tinant

Age
60

Occupation

Teacher. I teach Sociology at Oaklands College. Some of my ex students are Striders members !

Reason you started running?

I have been trying to run all of my life. People used to attempt to train me but gave up, looking confused “but you look like a runner, why can’t you run ?” Eventually, when I was 54, I saw a random advert for something called Run With Striders. It started the next day, so I signed up, confident that there wouldn’t be room for me. I got the last place available… it was definitely Karma !

Favourite race distance?

I like a 10 mile race – I’ve accepted that I’ll never be a full marathon person, and the 10 miler allows me to feel competitive without hurting too much

Favourite running route and race?

I really loved the London Vitality Half. Running past all those landmarks without cars. It was a great atmosphere and I can’t wait to do it again.

Running goals/targets?

Strangely I find that I’m getting faster as I’m getting older. It would be great to carry on improving – my only real goal is to try and run a sub 27 minute parkrun.

How often do you train?

I’m not good at running alone, so I make sure that Tuesday and Thursday club nights are always firmly in my calendar! I usually do parkrun as well, and also a long Sunday run as often as I can, as long as I can find a buddy or two.

What motivates you?

Striders … without a doubt. The friendship and support I’ve had from club members over the years has kept me going. I was a very bad runner for the first year or so, but patience and encouragement from run leaders like Ray Marshall, and finding a really supportive group of friends to boost my confidence made me stick with it. It really helps on a cold and rainy Tuesday Track to know other people will be expecting you to turn up.

Most memorable run/race?

It has to be my first Stampede. That was the first time I realised that running could be fun. I had a great team of 4 in Martin Crisp, Linda Cassidy and Dave Skyrme in 2016. We laughed all day.

Injuries?

I think the whole world knows about my high hamstring tendonitis. I won’t bore you by telling you more. It never goes away……

Other hobbies?

Only travel really – I love learning about other cultures and countries and planning the next adventure. I was meant to be flying to Vietnam on 4th April, and I can’t wait until the restrictions are lifted.

Guilty pleasure?

The Archers. All that lambing and crop rotation is very exciting.