Fourth-year biology student and UBC Running Club president Ryan Bajaj was initially “one of the slowest” members of his high school cross-country team. It only pushed him to train harder, so he stuck with cross-country and has continued running in university.
He ran a half marathon this summer and trained for the whole thing on his own. A week later, while reflecting on how much more fun it would’ve been to train with other people, he posted on Reddit to scope out whether there was demand for a running club at UBC.
Among the many that responded to Bajaj’s post was fourth-year psychology student Alison Leroux, who immediately knew that she had to get involved.
Leroux ran on teams and in competitions during most of her childhood, but grew to dislike how stressful competitive running could be. After getting injured, she took a break from running, but has been gravitating back towards doing it recreationally, to have fun and to meet new people.
“My mom used to tell me, when I used to run, ‘You’re lapping everyone sitting on the couch,’” said Leroux. “Even if you’re not doing a lot, even if you’re just doing a kilometre or two, that’s amazing.”
Bajaj applied to become an official club and started an Instagram page — over 400 followers later, he realized that this initiative was something that UBC’s running community really needed.
In his search for a pre-existing running club, Bajaj noticed old social media accounts for ones that had been started at UBC in the past, but struggled to stay active and consistent. UBC has a triathlon club where you can opt to only participate in the running portion, but during Bajaj’s time in it, he found that there wasn’t as prominent of a community that specifically enjoyed running.
“I think UBC has got an untapped community of runners. In a group setting, everyone’s more motivated to run together and to train for races,” said Bajaj.
The group aims to meet around three times a week, with shorter runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a longer one on Saturdays. All of the runs will be on or near campus, and there may be different groups based on skill level. In addition to regular practices, the club also plans to do social coffee runs.
At this year’s Clubs Fair, Bajaj and Leroux received plenty of intrigued responses and positive feedback, particularly because this group prioritizes having fun and making connections over participating in competitions.
“Not everyone wants to run competitively and can make the competitive team … this is for all levels, even if you don’t run, just to try it out,” said Leroux.
Though the running club is meant for recreational runs, it’s still a great space for people to train for upcoming races if they want to. Several of its members are planning to do the Great Trek, so Leroux and Bajaj are planning to organize a meetup beforehand where runners can “hype everyone up and encourage each other.”
“Running by yourself is daunting, sometimes kind of boring, honestly,” said Leroux. “A group of people who want to run together, it’s just a lot better than running by yourself. Hopefully we can encourage each other to beat personal best scores and to get faster together.”
Updates, announcements and information on how to get involved can be found on the club’s Instagram page (@ubcrunningclub).