Social Running Captain Manifesto - Maddy & Aylina 

"Let's have some serious fun on Wednesday's booty run"

Hi passionate joggers, our names are Maddy & Aylina and we are applying for social running captains this year.

Who are we?

Aylina 

I’m Aylina, a first-year PPE (philosophy, politics and economics) student with the current dream of becoming a diplomat. I’m half-Spanish and half-German. But I was raised most of my life in Belgium. That’s where I started running. I did my first 5k run when I was about 12 with my dad, and it was so much fun that it became a father-daughter thing. Later when I moved to Spain, it became a me moment. Every Friday for more than 2 years, I would grab my dog and run off into the nature that surrounded my house. Sometimes I would just purposely get lost, other times I would use the run to pick up some trash, and occasionally, I worked on my timings. Today it works like a charger. Whenever I’m at my lowest, I go on a run and the happiness I feel after is indescribable. So when I found out about Bootcamp I had to sign up. At the beginning, it was weird to talk to people while running, I had always done it listening to music or silently. But I quickly started to understand why people did it. The conversations you exchange at bootcamp are not like other socials. And as the weeks passed, I started realising I wanted to contribute to the organisation of the runs, organise the exercises, and maybe even set some goals for all of us. But mainly, I want to share and further promote our love for running and what better way than being a social running captain. 

Maddy 

I’m Maddy, a first year Business Management student at King’s who is definitely more committed to attending Bootcamp runs than lectures. I began by running with my school team, representing my school in national cross-country races and training with them multiple times a week. As I got older, running became more of a stress relief activity for me, running to clear my head from school stress and taking time away from the screen and the four walls of my bedroom during Covid (we all remember those days…). I found that surprise, surprise, fresh air and exercise was really great for my mental and physical health. Later on, I took on trail running with a group of friends, challenging my body and building a tightly-knit bond with my fellow runners. I found that conversations made during runs were always more authentic and genuine; forming the basis of incredible friendships. Since then, running has established itself as a social activity in my life, a time for me to catch up with friends on runs every week. As such, I am the biggest fan and most dedicated runner of King’s AXC Wednesday Bootcamp runs! The positive and supportive energy that everyone brings to these runs is irreplaceable. Not only is it good vibes, exercise and incredible views of the best city in the world (hint: London), it is an absolutely lovely community of like-minded students. It would be my honour to lead and contribute even more to this community as a social running captain.

Why us?

• FRIENDSHIP - Bootcamp is the reason we are such great friends! We started chatting on the runs and soon began going to the gym, cycling, going out and cooking dinner together all the time. We exemplify the friendships that can be formed at Bootcamp, as we all have a sporty lifestyle in common, amongst many other things, we’re sure! 

• (COM)PASSIONATE – We’re both very passionate about running, even more so when it is with people. We both have far too much energy for the average university students. So, as a social running captains, we will put all this energy into leading Bootcamp runs to motivate and uplift the group. Furthermore, we will ensure everyone in the group, regardless of their running experience or ability is included and accommodated for. No one should ever feel left out or excluded and we will make sure this never happens under our watch. 

• EXTROVERTED – Thanks to us being international students and having the privilege to have travelled a lot, we are both very social individuals. We learned early on to approach others and include them in different environments. We’ve both been class delegates (head girls/prefects) and have done volunteering in our home countries. This has equipped us with many skills to make the runs entertaining, comfortable and a safe space for everyone.

What will we do?

• DIFFERENT ROUTES - We both love exploring the different areas of the amazing city of London and we want to do this with you. So, we will change the route every once in a while making it overall more entertaining. 

• SWITCHING UP THE EXERCISES - We both love working out so we’ll include cool new exercises each week. 

• THEMED RUNS - To add a bit of fun to our runs we would love to dress up with you guys for special times like Christmas, SSt. Patrick's, Halloween… and run around London together.

• MUSIC - We will play music on the runs for motivation, the genre depending on what the group decides each week! 

• COLLECTING FEEDBACK - We want to make sure everyone feels comfortable during the runs so we will send anonymous forms every once in a while for you guys to give suggestions (on themes, music, exercises…) or share any issues you might have.