Stride by Stride: How Run Clubs Foster Public Health

On Instagram, the West Town Brew Crew,¹ a run club based in Chicago, Illinois, posted a screenshot of Robert Putnam’s New York Times interview and captioned it “HEY POLITICAL PEOPLE IN TOWN if you support democracy then you should run outside with friends.” In his interview, Putnam,² author of Bowling Alone, stated “How does having fun in a running club, for example, translate to democracy? How does that small germ of social connection in a club then translate to ‘I believe in this whole experiment?’ ” Like the democratic experiment, public health relies on community building, which run clubs do remarkably well.

For me, running and community go hand in hand. Running is often considered a solitary activity. But if it was only that, I would never have started running for fun. Before college, I ran only when I had to for gym class. I started running out of my own free will as a Back on My Feet (BoMF)³ volunteer. This nonprofit aims to “empower people to achieve economic independence through fitness and community.” I volunteered weekly at BoMF morning runs throughout my entire undergraduate career, as did many other students once they joined.

Our commitment was not because we loved running at 5:30 on Friday mornings. We were college students, after all. It was because we loved spending time with each other and the program participants. An organization such as BoMF redefines volunteering and community engagement. It blurs power dynamics through an activity in which everyone is doing the same thing. An observer would not know who is running as a beneficiary of the nonprofit versus who is running for community service hours.

Through running with BoMF, I connected with people I would not have encountered on my college campus. I would not have appreciated the differences between the city streets and suburban sidewalks. BoMF models what Putnam called “doing with,” relying on direct interpersonal engagement, as opposed to “doing for,” which is aiding from a distance.⁴ Although many other organizations provide housing and employment resources in the spirit of doing for, few break the barrier between those who are serving and those who are served. Of course, power differences still exist, but in the morning runs everyone is a runner.

Likewise, Walk with a Doc⁵ and Walk with a Future Doc exemplify doing with. These nonprofit organizations create a space for community members and health care providers to discuss health topics while walking. As a medical student in my local chapter, I met Chicago residents who told me about free physical activity events for seniors, which I then shared with patients in my continuity clinic. We had a mutual exchange of information. I shared lifestyle medicine tips, and participants shared their deep knowledge of community resources. This demonstrates the relationship between social capital and public health. Participants later organized their own walks in addition to the ones led by Walk with a Future Doc. Social connection thus facilitated sustainable behavior change.

Independently organized, freestanding run clubs also create spaces for diverse people to gather without fees and prerequisites. Chicago Run Collective emphasizes its social component, making the club palpable for novice runners. With 436 000 Instagram followers, this run club could be mistaken for a major race event. It puts the “club” in run club with signs reading “Saturdays are for clubbin’ ” and dance music blasting. I met Turkish medical students, Lollapalooza concertgoers, laborers, and financial consultants who were all eager to converse with new people. I watched Allport’s intergroup contact theory play out. Allport⁶ proposed the idea of prejudice reduction through positive contact under four conditions: equal status within the situation, common goals, intergroup cooperation, and support of authorities, law, or custom. The trend of informal, recreational social clubs such as run clubs enacts Allport’s theory. Run clubs, particularly large ones such as Chicago Run Collective, often fulfill Allport’s conditions and provide a starting point for improving intergroup relations.

After a run, people often continue socializing whether through planning other runs, walking dogs together, or participating in potlucks. These are all wonderful extensions of Chicago’s Shut Up and Run Club, for example. Run clubs cement outdoor urban spaces as third spaces where people can gather without spending money. They expand social networks that people long for outside of their professional lives. As Rebecca Solnit⁷ wrote in A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster,

We have, most of us, a deep desire for this democratic public life, for a voice, for membership, for purpose and meaning that cannot be only personal. We want larger selves and a larger world.

Run clubs connect people with each other and physical spaces, thus reminding individuals why they have a stake in public health interests.

Obviously, run clubs provide the health benefit of physical activity. What differentiates a run club from running alone, though, are the perks of social interaction: accountability for the physical activity and amplified mental health benefits. A review of recent longitudinal research⁸ demonstrated that social connectedness, via strong support and expansive networks, protects adults from depression and anxiety disorders. From learning about a run club on social media, where many clubs post meeting times and locations, to getting outside to directly connect with others, run clubs combat social isolation in this digital age. Outdoor exercise, also known as green exercise, may have additive benefits for mood and enjoyment of the activity.⁹ In alignment with the World Health Organization’s definition of health, freestanding run clubs promote physical, mental, and social well-being.¹⁰

Across the country, run clubs have brought people of varying running abilities and backgrounds together. According to one runner from Stamford, Connecticut:

[Runners Collective/Social Athletic Run Club] has such a diverse group of people. I never knew people from so many different career paths were even in my area. There’s that saying about the company you keep, the circle you maintain—these people each inspire me to be and do more and better things in different ways—and I’d like to think I do the same. Whether it’s physical or mental health, religion/spirituality, relationship advice, hobbies, following your passions—you name it—we’ve talked about it!

A runner in Chicago gave a shout out to Read and Run Chicago:

it’s an incredible run club that highlights local authors and books about Chicago in their runs, they broaden my perspective about the community and history of Chicago.

A Lakeview Run Club participant reported: “Run club is probably the only community event I attend… it’s social suffering!” And to the West Coast, an avid runner in Eugene, Oregon, stated “Often I go to a run club to try new shoes or try running gear like hydration/electrolytes or learn new running routes.”

Increased use of public spaces for running may, in turn, raise awareness of public space needs and encourage policymakers to develop safe, attractive running environments. Novice and experienced runners alike prefer lively, green, and comfortable running surfaces.¹¹ A plethora of cycling advocacy organizations such as Slow Roll Chicago¹² already exist to encourage the creation of safe bike lanes and cycling as a form of transportation and exercise. With a shared mission for mobility justice, run clubs and cycling groups could unite their political organizing power to advocate for urban planning aligned with public health interests.

Are run clubs the new bowling club? Perhaps, according to Putnam—but they are so much more. By inviting strangers to run in public spaces without cost, on a regular basis, run clubs foster new relationships, build social capital, and nurture our compassion, care, and interests in broader, inclusive communities. The accessibility of run clubs across communities is the crux of their power. Public health is invested not in individuals but, rather, in a collective people. Although run clubs do benefit the individual, their aggregate influence as a social phenomenon undeniably promotes and serves public interests.