A few brave runners (including this reporter) finish Wednesday Night Laundry Runners’ 4.5-mile winter route.
It’s a dark and chilly January evening by the time the group gathers, identifiable as runners by their colorful shoes, bare legs and down puffer coats. We mill around, moving to keep warm. Regulars exchange hellos and regulars’ dogs roughhouse.
Just past 6pm, organizer Mimi Bowen gathers the group for a quick description of the route (a variable length out-and-back along the Rec Trail) and a group photo. And then we’re off.
THIS IS THE FLEET FEET MONTEREY PUB RUN. Founded in 2021 as a monthly group, it now meets every Monday at Fieldwork Brewing in Monterey. “It’s grown quite a bit this last year,” Bowen says, estimating that around 30-50 people show up each week. (There are some other run clubs that meet regularly at Fieldwork too, including a Thursday night pub run group.)
The run itself is a three – to five-mile out-and-back along the Rec Trail – three miles if you turn around at the Aquarium; five if you make it all the way to Lovers Point. Runners group in packs of twos and fours, some setting a swift, focused pace while others enjoy a more leisurely, social outing. The whole idea is that you can run as fast and as far as you want – and in all likelihood there will be someone else running with a pace and distance goal to match.
Regulars say the welcoming community and accountability of showing up on a given Monday keep them coming back. That, and you get a free pub run T-shirt after 16 runs. (Because the group is sponsored by a running store, there are also occasional demos by shoe brands like Asics and HOKA.)
Amelia Jackson and Lydia Gentry were drawn to “the community aspect of it – coming together around movement,” Jackson says.
“The people are great,” Gentry adds, and “it’s a way to meet other people outside my circle. This is my social outing.”
The promise of meeting fellow runners also drives people to OtherRunners, a run club that started in February 2023 and meets on Wednesdays at 6pm at Other Brother Beer Co. in Seaside. The group was inspired by the Monterey store of athletic wear company Lululemon’s desire to reach out to runners outside of Monterey/Pacific Grove – “Seaside needed some love,” cofounder Marc Rodriguez explains.
“It’s really hard when you’re over 30 to meet people,” OtherRunners runner Lauren Reagan says. “So it’s nice to meet people who have a common interest.”
IF RECENT LONGFORM NEWS PROFILES HAVE MADE IT SEEM LIKE RUN CLUBS ARE A NEW TREND, then the Wednesday Night Laundry Runners is a long-running (pun intended) exception. Established in 1965, the group meets Wednesdays in the Lucky’s parking lot in Pacific Grove to head out for a four-and-a-half mile (winter) run through town or a six-mile (summer) jaunt into the Del Monte Forest.
One need not be an accomplished runner to join a run club. The idea is that runners set their own pace and distance, and will likely find someone else in the group with similar goals.
When Emily Cole moved to the area in 2014, her friends suggested that she join a pickup Ultimate Frisbee group as a way to meet people. “You’re moving to a beach town in California,” she recalls those friends reasoning. “Don’t tell me there’s not a pickup Ultimate group. And here’s the thing: They’re almost always super nice and super chill.”
Through Ultimate, Cole was invited to join WNLR. At first she wasn’t sure about the name (the group is named for its original meeting point near the now-closed Mission Linen Supply) – “and then I did come and I was like, ‘Oh, this is actually really fun.’”
Unlike the Fleet Feet group or OtherRunners, WNLR has no corporate sponsor. Membership ($20 a year, strongly encouraged for regulars but not a requirement to run with the group) promises free pizza parties and an annual holiday party, plus discounts at The Treadmill. The organization became a nonprofit in 2020 and runs a scholarship program for Monterey County track and cross-country athletes (at the high school level) who are pursuing a college education. Since 2001, WNLR have given-out over $175,000 to over 170 graduating seniors in Monterey County.
In 2018/2019 the founders of the club were ready to pass the mantle on to a younger generation, and Cole became president of the group, organizing and leading the weekly runs with a sociable ease. In addition to the Wednesday runs, and a new Wednesday night route started this fall in Marina, “Saturdays are big,” Cole says. The group meets at different locations each Saturday (recent runs have taken place in downtown Carmel, Palo Corona, along the coast near Happy Girl Kitchen in Pacific Grove) to keep things interesting.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AN ACCOMPLISHED RUNNER TO JOIN A RUN CLUB. While most organized runs by local groups tend to be in the four-to-six-mile range – a lot for a new runner – organizers happily offer suggestions for shorter routes. And you don’t even have to run – Cole of WNLR says there’s often a walking cohort at the group’s Saturday meetups.
Beth Scrutton, Mindy Day and Kevin Yarbrough all say they weren’t regular runners before joining the Fleet Feet pub run in June of last year, but they were already hanging out regularly on Mondays, and wanted to get into it. Day’s brother, a runner, suggested joining a run club as a way to start. The months of regular miles have made an impact – Scrutton and Day ran their first 10K race last year. “Now we’re planning for our first half marathon,” Scrutton says.
If you do have experience running, the group atmosphere can help push you to faster paces.
On a recent Wednesday Night Laundry Runners outing, during an extraordinarily well-timed break in the rain, first-time WNLRer Caitlin Duenow says she sought out a run club to join in order to help her train harder. “I just need to push myself,” Duenow says, after revealing that she’s run 13 marathons. “If I go running by myself, I don’t push myself.”
Run clubs are an informal way to do that, but they can be an introduction to more formal options, like the paid training programs offered by Fleet Feet Monterey.
“We don’t necessarily offer a training program, but what we do try to offer is the community, the connection,” Cole says. “So if you do want to participate in a very structured training program, by running with us you will come across the Fleet Feet people. We want to continue to be the anchor group for all things running in the area.”
OtherRunners is a newly created run club in Seaside. A regular crew of 10-12 show up on Wednesday nights at Other Brother Beer Co.
AFTER THE RUN, THE FLEET FEET GROUP CONGREGATES BACK AT FIELDWORK for a beer and some endorphin-fueled conversation; OtherRunners does the same at Other Brother (runners receive $1 off beers as an incentive). WNLR celebrates New Runner Wednesday – the first Wednesday of each month – with pizza.
Relaxing near the firepits at Fieldwork, Scrutton, Day and Yarbrough agree that the accountability factor of showing up to an organized event is what keeps them on the run. But if that’s the stick there’s also a carrot. “Ending at this nice beer garden is good too,” Scrutton says.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.