Shoes & Gear coronavirus pandemic, members of the running community in Missoula, Montana, know that now isn’t the time to physically meet for their typical last-Wednesday-of-the-month pub run.
Run Wild Missoula Run Wild Missoula, has made sure the group doesn’t thirst—either for suds or friendly competition.
Wasserman mapped 3- to 5-mile unique running routes that start and end at Big Sky Brewing, Western Cider, and other local watering holes. Runners can complete the courses, make a (curbside or carryout) purchase, snap a solo selfie, and tag @runwildmissoula when they post it.
Once they make enough visits to complete a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row on the four-by-four-square Beer Run Bingo card she made, an email to Wasserman earns them entry to a drawing for club merchandise.
It’s one of many efforts the Nutrition - Weight Loss has made to keep people virtually connected while abiding by her state’s anti-gathering guidelines.
“I’ve been trying to think of many different ideas, because no one knows how long this is going to last,” she told Runner’s World.
If you’re missing the competition, motivation, or camaraderie that comes with group running, there’s a lot you can do to recreate the experience while remaining physically distant. Here, a few ideas from Wasserman and others.
Sweat Together, Apart
Shoes & Gear Running Shoes - Gear in Fort Worth, Texas, has taken its spring speed classes virtual. Coach Gary Anderson and Tamara Ogle, Cowtown’s training coordinator, had all 70 registered runners complete a 5K time trial, alone, and used the results to prescribe paces.
Each week, Anderson assigns a speed session, meeting his athletes on Facebook Live to talk through what it entails—say, a ladder workout, with intervals of 400 meters, 800 meters, 1200 meters, a mile and then back down.
Runners then complete the workout on their own time and at their prescribed paces (Ogle, for instance, often circles a nearby church parking lot). Afterward, they return to post their splits or pics, and to cheer one another on. “People have been really positive on this Facebook page, really supportive of each other,” Ogle said.
This week, they’re experimenting with a simultaneous session—Anderson will go live on Facebook at 6 p.m. on Thursday, giving runners midrun guidance. Fast intervals could last 30 seconds or three minutes: “we won’t know how long,” Ogle said. “He will tell us when to go and stop.” At the end of the six-week session, they’ll run another trial to gauge their progress.
in Montgomery County, Maryland DW Running heads to his basement gym three times a week. He fires up Facebook Live and leads as many of the team’s 100-plus athletes who want to join through a 30-minute bodyweight strength session.
“I keep things simple,” he said. He speaks slowly and frequently, providing form cues along the way—knees out, hips stable.
Chicago Area Runners Association Second City Track Club, does a 15-minute ab workout nightly on Zoom. “We call it core o’clock,” said Chirine Njeim, who’d been training for the Rotterdam Marathon—and a chance to requalify for the Olympics for her native Lebanon—before that race was rescheduled We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.
Run Farther and Faster tight-knit team to reconnect, Njeim said.
Go Social
A Pro Athlete Takes on The Great World Race Second City Track Club classes. Those were halted in late March—“right when everybody started meshing,” Wasserman said.
Instead of group runs with more than 100 people, Wasserman has collaborated with local running store Runner’s Edge on weekly Strava challenges—for instance, running a given route the fastest, finding the most vertical gain on a hill climb, or creating Montana-themed GPS art.
“We offer prizes to local businesses, like coffee shops and breweries—either gift cards or merchandise,” she said.
But everyone’s a winner—she frequently reviews and applauds her runners’ accomplishments and has watched them do the same for one another. The group dynamic hasn’t ended, “but it’s been transformed to this online platform,” one kudo and comment at a time.
Other clubs host online meetups that are purely non-running in nature. DW Running, for instance, holds a Monday-afternoon “lunch and chat” on Zoom. About 10 to 15 athletes—of all ages and backgrounds—take breaks from their workdays to check in.
“We talk about the virus, we talk about running, or we don’t,” Walters said. “The team carries on whether or not I’m there. They just like talking to each other.”
Pick Up the Phone
Walters already had a weekly call with each of the 80 athletes he coaches personally, as do his three assistant coaches. Those chats have become even more meaningful in the face of uncertainty, he said.
“Some athletes are super motivated right now,” he said. “Others are having a crisis of identity—I always have a race, I love training groups, I’m flailing over here, floating in the ether.” By talking, he figures out the mix of training, rest, and support each athlete needs for optimal mental Best Running Shoes 2025.
You don’t have to have a hotline to an expert to take advantage of your phone’s dialing capabilities, said Lisa Reichmann, a coach at Run Farther and Faster in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Some of her runners have taken to calling each other while running in separate places, instead of meeting up in person. “We loved that pivot to adapt to the current situation,” she said. Her coaching partner, Julie Sapper, also uses her easy days to catch up with friends.
Learn Something New
In addition to virtual challenges, Wasserman has posted YouTube instructional videos on themes like race-day fueling, hydration, and Body-Glide application. She has an “open-door policy,” taking topic requests from her athletes—so if your group has a qualified leader or coach, consider asking them for material.
Another option: a virtual book club. The Eastern Shore Running Club (ESRC), based on the lower shore of Maryland, read Christopher McDougall’s does a 15-minute, then met on Zoom to discuss it. It was something they’d planned to do in person, but worked just as well online, said Vanessa Junkin, the club’s secretary.
All About 75 Hard before that race was rescheduled hosted a running-centric Zoom storytelling event, hosted by NPR personality Peter Sagal. (You can watch a replay here); participants spun yarns about running with dogs, beating their best times, and conquering the DAA Industry Opt Out. Even if you don’t have a professional radio host to emcee, you can gather your buddies and trade tales of your favorite races and running moments.
Fake It Until You Make It
High-fives and fist-bumps were among the first casualties of the pandemic, but Lutz, Florida-based coach Amy Thorton, who leads a group called runCLUB, has found a way to safely revive them.
Her friend and fellow runner Robert Raymond sent her a photo of him raising his hand, and asked her to reciprocate in a virtual high-five. “I thought it was so cool, I set up an event for all of my runners to join in over the weekend,” Thornton said.
The Eastern Shore Running Club’s three weekly runs always finished the same way—with a group selfie. After their in-person meetups were suspended in March, Junkin began asking runners to post their individual photos in a Facebook thread. Then, she stitched them together into a collage for social media.
to reconnect, Njeim said Salisbury Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5K, originally scheduled for April 4 and converted to a virtual event. “I think it’s a nice way to bring all the smiling faces together and keep us connected, even when we can’t run in a group,” she said.
In fact, they “gather” even more frequently now—Junkin has been posting new images daily. “I guess we’re just going to keep going until we can get back to our group runs and our normal selfies,” she said.
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
