an ode to the running club

By Silke and Ryan Smith

If there is one answer to just about any question about running it is this: Join a running club.

Want to last long in this sport? Join a club. Want to meet fellow runners? Join a club. Want to run more consistently, have more discipline, run further, run faster, run better? Join a club. The answers to all of your running needs can be found through this vital part of the running community. As much as it will help your running, it will also improve your life in more ways than you can imagine.

A club is both a community and a team.

It celebrates both amateurism and professionalism because it simply focuses on serving people. It exists to provide its members with meaningful connections through a mutual enjoyment of running. It exists through the selfless participation and volunteerism of its members. It is the epitome of community.

It represents something greater than you. The pride that comes with wearing your club colors gives you the courage to start and stokes the fire to finish when your motivation or belief wanes. It propels you forward with emotion and purpose. It is the epitome of a team.

It embodies a diversity of goals and breadth of accomplishments. A club celebrates often. It celebrates first times, personal records, consistency, and participation.

It celebrates everyone. Running is a fickle sport where personal successes can be few and far between. A club offers you opportunities to join in on the joy of others and to be a part of their achievements.

A club is there for the long haul. It is a constant, offering dependability and consistency. It’s a bank of wisdom and experience built by and for the community. You will both borrow and deposit by the simple act of showing up and participating.

Above all, the running club gifts you the opportunity to nurture established friendships while discovering new ones. It’s a powerful combination that defies complacency and welcomes possibility. The diversity of age, gender, professions and backgrounds creates a genuine and meaningful social network with lasting connections that can quite literally change your life.

These connections have been most acutely tested, strengthened and cherished during the pandemic, when isolation and self-preservation took hold. So too, unfortunately, did loneliness; an all too common and increasingly relevant problem in modern times. When the whole world shut down, the club kept the lights on. It became the antidote.

Running is great.

Running with friends is better. Running with a club is everything.