Truckin’ Runners is a Facebook group with a goal of helping people in the industry improve their health. The group is not exclusive to runners. Truckin’ Runners includes walkers, bicyclists and tri-athletes.
I walk as well as run. My bicycle goes with me on the truck. Ideas are freely debated on the site. Tell us what has worked for you and maybe you can help someone else. Someone else may know something that will help you.
Trucking radio is full of drivers complaining about the lack of camaraderie. We don’t have three or four trucks pulling off the side of the road to help a broken down trucker. Technology has changed our sense of community. It is likely that the driver has contacted his company via satellite. Either that, or there is a picture of a radiator low on coolant appearing on his instrument panel. Welcome to 2010! Things have changed.
Runners have a sense of community. We exchange information as we line up to start. Communication can avoid a traffic jam. There are people there that plan on running faster than 10 mph. Others will go less than 4 mph. If the 4 mph people line up in front it creates a traffic jam. Communication lessens the problem.
After the race we talk to each other. We sit around shaking hands and swapping stories. Runners do this over a bottle of water the way truckers do over a cup of coffee. We exchange training ideas the way truckers may have exchanged routing ideas. Routing may be computerized now, but we have a lot of other things to talk about. Wouldn’t it be cool to talk about a great place we found to ride our bike, walk or run?
Community is about unifying for a common goal. The health of our nation’s drivers is not good. I believe that it is the number one issue facing us. Truckin’ Runners is a technology-based community trying to improve our health issues. Along the way we are rebuilding a sense of community. The old way isn’t coming back. It is time to embrace the new way.
Visit the Truckin’ Runners Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/truckinrunners. You can also meet Jeff Clark at the Great American Trucking Show’s Fit for the Road booth.
Jeff Clark is a trucker, a grandfather and an eight-time marathon (26.2 miles) finisher. He is dedicated to helping truckers improve their health through better habits. Contact him at [email protected] or https://twitter.com/marathontrucker.
