Run clubs now more than ever

What is the role of run clubs during the second Trump administration, and who is welcome?

“Run clubs now more than ever”

That’s the sentiment conveyed by many a run club late last week, but what does it mean?

Silver Lake Track Club on IG: “We are a force for unity, resilience, and well-being.”

Thursday was a tough day. It wasn’t a surprising result — it’s difficult to manufacture genuine surprise in a perennial two-horse race — but I woke up in London to the U.S. Election result more or less accepted.

What’s this got to do with run clubs, though?

Over the past two years I’ve written extensively about what run clubs provide their communities.

• Somewhere group exercise can occur freely

• A third place for socializing away from home and/or work

• A safe space for marginalized communities to be together

• Somewhere ideas and activism can be built at a grassroots level

What’s the common factor? It’s togetherness. It’s safety in numbers. It’s a place for like-minded people, whatever that might mean.

While many might want running communities to be a safe space away from politics, these groups provide more than just exercise. Can you really regularly share an activity with a group of people and speak only in performance metrics? You certainly can at a traditional athletics club, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.

Run clubs are the truest reflection of the rich social microcosms of modern society. They bring together people who normally might only get to loiter around the peripheries.

We’re talking about a group who takes other running clubs to Chinatowns around the world to destigmatize the Chinese community following an outrageously, irrationally racist byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’re talking about a Sikh running club in a Christian country, queer running clubs in a heteronormative society, inmates in a maximum security prison learning to run marathons, female-only clubs trying to run away from men. It’s an endless list.

Run clubs allow progress through community, and now they must do more than just continue with their missions. They must lean harder into everything they believe in now more than ever, because — especially with the legislation that’s already been announced — people need it more than ever.

Run clubs do essential work in highlighting and explaining what marginalized communities go through, and what they need. They are a place for people to stand up and be proud of the things that make them who they are, and be with others who identify with the same traits. That is the true beauty of run clubs.

So is it fair to be allowed to participate in these communities when you’ve voted for a party that attacks marginalized people and is actively working to remove safety, security, and peace of mind for the people who need it the most?

My initial reaction was no — absolutely not — but life isn’t that simple, is it? Especially when you realize that 50% of the country is not only not in your echo chamber, but actively live among us.

I obviously don’t have all the answers, but while there is still so, so much work to be done in terms of understanding one other as human beings, I do know that it cannot come at the cost of the safe spaces that running communities have created for those who need them the most. I’m confident it won’t.

RUN CLUBS NOW MORE THAN EVER.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Especially if you do have the answers! Tell me what your running community is doing. Positive *or* negative.

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Last year on Running Sucks

It’s been a year since I interviewed Mia Braithwaite about being The Fat Athlete, a coach on a mission to help runners in larger bodies.

Where are all the fat runners?

This is also the one-year anniversary of hosting my first event! A run through Hollywood and a book reading with Lindsey Freeman, the author of my favorite running book of 2023.

Writing, Running, and Living with Lindsey A. Freeman

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Running Sucks Haiku of the Week

Runners want progress
It feels less likely this week
Keep making cool shit

It’s certainly my intent to keep on driving forward. My way of creating more good in the world is to highlight the people making good things for the world. I believe that’s how we win. Good vibes only, thanks.

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Thanks for reading
- Raz x