Fitness and running clubs have become a social oasis

On her first outing with a running club, Bria Black got passed. A lot. “They were so sweet and so welcoming, but they were like, eight-minute pace marathoners,” she said. “I had never even ran before, so when we were running together, they would just pass me up,” Black said. “They would be encouraging, like, ‘Go Bria, good job!' And I'm like, “I feel like I don't fit in.” But she felt like something was missing — a place where she belonged as both an inexperienced runner and a person of colour. Her Instagram followers had a suggestion.

- Kyeland Jackson, Anna Sago, Kinnia Cheuk, Tribune News Service

“Y'all, I wanna go to a run club so bad,” she recalled posting. “They were like, just start one.” Thus, Run BLK was born. The group, which centres Black runners and walkers but is open to all and includes people of all abilities, has ballooned to a weekly event, with 50 to 100 participants. The runs begin with an icebreaker session and a warmup so people can get to know each other.

“We're trying to introduce a new type of lifestyle that promotes healthy habits that’s accessible, because there's no cost of entry,” she said. “It’s just like, come as you are, do what feels good to your body, wherever you are, whoever you are, you're welcome.”

At a recent event, the group was around 100 strong, and attendees ranged from longtime runners to parents with children to people who were just getting started. Run BLK is one of many exercise groups created post-pandemic in cities including Minneapolis, Duluth, Charlottesville and Atlanta.