Most people come into running through road racing – perhaps from seeing the London Marathon on TV or being persuaded to join a charity fun run. I have met many people who have never been on a running track. There is a feeling that the running track is only for the young and fit, but this is by no means the case. Tracks tend to be heavily used a couple of evenings a week, when the local club has its training nights, and under – used the rest of the time.
The good things about running tracks are:
You have a reliable, traffic–free all weather surface to run on.
You know exactly how far you are running. A lap on the inside lane is 400m, which means that 4 laps equals a mile (1609m) as near as dammit. If you run a lap in the second lane, you run an extra 8m, in the third lane, an extra 16m, and so on, but there are track markings to allow for this.
You usually have changing and toilet facilities handy.
It gives you a chance to meet up with other runners.
The drawbacks of running tracks are:
You have to pay.
Although tracks are softer than roads, too much fast track running can lead to injury.
Because you know exactly how far you are running, you can’t kid yourself about your state of fitness!
So if you've never tried track running why not find out where your nearest track is and give it a go.