Trying something new is integral to the University of California, Riverside (UCR) college experience. Be it rock climbing, crocheting or even baking, this is the perfect time in your life to try something new. Even so, finding ways to maintain your favorite hobbies and interests from your time before college can be a perfect way to ground yourself and find community.
Running Club at UCR has provided a safe space on campus for runners since 2008. The club’s inclusivity and openness allows for runners of all walks of life to grow and develop alongside those they share a passion with.
Joining Running Club is a spontaneous venture for many. As Andy Zhang, fourth year electrical engineering major and club president explained, “I started out [at Running Club] my third year around week three. I was training for a marathon and I’d seen a flyer for the running club. I knew it existed already, but I hadn’t had the guts to go out and run. But I finally went my third week and I haven’t stopped since … I realized how much fun it was and how inclusive the club has been.”
Nicole Kennedy, fourth year neuroscience major, and club historian shared a similar experience, saying that she too felt somewhat intimidated before joining the club, “My third year, I finally went up to them, and I met Emmanuel, [who] was our prior … president of the club, and he just told me to come out. And when I actually came out, everyone here just started running with me. They stayed with me the whole time, and it encouraged me to come back all the time.”
Inexperienced runners have plenty of guidance as much of the board has experience with running, and as Zhang explains, “We try to be inclusive for anyone so whether you have experience or not, we’re providing officers that are running at whatever pace you want to run at to improve your endurance. And then on top of that, just be able to enjoy running more, [providing] an outlet for runners to be more comfortable doing more physical tasks.”
David Campos, fifth year economics major explained that Running at UCR was a way for him to continue his hobby even in college, “I think starting in middle school, I had some interest in running, so I joined the cross country team and then the track team as well [in] high school, and then I just pretty much haven’t looked back since then. Once I found the Running Club at UCR that helped me [to] just keep running and staying in shape and meeting new people.”
Running Club meetings start with introductions, as there are usually new members who join throughout the year. People introduce themselves with their name, major and answer the icebreaker question of the day. Then, the board members introduce themselves and make sure that new members sign safety waivers, before moving on to group stretching and then starting the route. The routes themselves range in terms of location sprawling across campus, parts of Downtown Riverside and the Box Springs Mountains.
Zhang elaborates on some of the events that the club hosts: “we have a catalog on our Instagram which describes each of our events. We’re basically just planning ahead of time what races we’re going to be doing. We tend to try to do one to two races [a] quarter. We try to have one to two hikes. And then we try to do collabs with other colleges. We’ve done … Cal Poly Pomona collabs, collabs with the University of California, Los Angeles…[and] other running clubs.”
Zhang continued saying that these races are a great opportunity for runners on campus because of the discounted rates that they receive as a club, “races are really expensive, and we tend to get discounts when we apply for them in groups. So just being able to provide that when people probably have never gotten the chance to race, or they have raced and they want to get the chance to beat their personal records (PRs) or stuff like that is just a great opportunity to provide for people.”
During their club meetings, members are often trying to build their endurance and improve their times for these races to see their hard work pay off.
The club has made an effort to make the space more welcoming to everyone.]. Kennedy mentioned that in her first few years at UCR, the club was primarily composed of men, something that intimidated her. She brought up this concern to the vice president and president at the time and learned from them that “[they were] meaning to get more women out to run with us, and even getting more women on board.” Kennedy shares that they then added a few more women to the board, and noted that “a lot more girls and women came out to run, and it made [Running Club] feel more welcoming.”
Campos himself believes that the same inclusive and welcoming environment is what makes Running Club at UCR so unique, “I noticed that a lot of other running clubs are a lot more serious. They’re very focused on just training, so they’re more aimed towards people who have been running a lot and seriously. They’re almost like a competitive team. I think we’ve pushed in a direction where we want to be. You don’t have to be incredibly fast or incredibly talented at running, you just have to want to run. And then you’ll find a place within our running club.”
