Don’t just call them running groups: running crews are the new urban hubs where careers, friendships, and maybe even love are built, one step at a time.
- Running crews are no longer just a way to work out, but the new center of urban social life.
- They have taken the place of bars and happy hours as spontaneous gathering places.
- They function as a “third place,” a neutral space between the commitments of home and the pressures of work.
- Running becomes a pretext for creating authentic connections, based on values like effort and consistency.
- Within a crew, professional networking and the start of friendships (and sometimes, relationships) happen naturally and informally.
- The real goal is no longer just performance but the search for a community and a sense of belonging.
First There Was the Bar, Then the Happy Hour. Today, to Socialize, People Go for a Run.
Let’s admit it, there was a time when the options for meeting new people were pretty standardized. You could sign up for a sommelier course (at the risk of becoming one of *those*), try your luck at a crowded bar on a Friday night, or, for the more daring, attempt to exchange a few words with someone in the library, hoping not to be incinerated by their gaze. Then came the apps, which transformed relationships into a kind of trading card catalog, with all the poetry of a grocery list.
And now? Now, if you truly want to connect with someone, you put on a pair of running shoes and join a running crew. It sounds like a joke, but it’s a snapshot of a silent and unstoppable social shift. In our increasingly fragmented and digital cities, group running has become the new, surprising grammar of sociality.
The Running Crew as a “Third Place”: The Space Between Home and Work.
Back in the ’80s, sociologist Ray Oldenburg spoke of “third places”: those informal spaces, neither home (first place) nor work (second place), where people meet, converse, and build bonds. These were the cafes, the pubs, the public squares. Today, these places are partly emptied by hurry and replaced by screens. The running crew, almost unknowingly, has come to occupy that exact empty space.
It’s neutral territory. You don’t have the pressure of work performance or the complex dynamics of private relationships. It’s simply you, with your shoes and your shortness of breath, next to someone else with their shoes and their, identical, shortness of breath. This shared vulnerability is a potent social accelerator. While you run, the masks fall away. It doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO or a broke student; for those miles, you are just two people trying not to quit. And in this shared effort, the foundation is laid for something much more solid than casual small talk.
Not Just Sweat: Networking, Friendship, and (Perhaps) Love.
At first, you think you’re only going there to improve your 10K time. Then, after a few weeks, you find yourself talking about work projects with an architect while stretching, organizing a post-run beer with a programmer, and swapping music recommendations with a lawyer. Running becomes the context, the pretext for creating a network of human contacts before professional ones.
The networking that emerges in a running crew is more organic, less forced than what happens at a conference. Conversation flows naturally between strides, and trust is built on consistency and mutual commitment—values that sometimes seem forgotten in the working world. It’s no coincidence that publications like the New York Times have started reporting on how crews have also become spots for “dating.” The basic idea is simple: if a person is disciplined enough to get up at dawn to run in the rain, maybe they’re also a reliable person in life. Or maybe they’re just a little crazy, but at least it’s the exact same kind of craziness you have.
What Are We Really Looking For When We Seek a Group to Run With?
The answer is probably an antidote to modern life’s loneliness. In an era that demands us to be high-performing and connected but often leaves us isolated, finding a group with whom to share a purpose—even one as simple as running for an hour—answers a primary need: the need for belonging.
We are looking for a place to be seen for who we are, beyond our professional or social role. We are looking for the motivation we struggle to find alone and the lightness of a laugh after a strenuous sprint. We are looking for a routine that gives structure to our days and people who understand why, sometimes, we prefer a run over a night out at a noisy bar. Ultimately, we are looking for a tribe.
The Future of Communities: Less Performance, More Connection.
The running crew phenomenon is not a passing fad but an indicator of a clear direction: people seek collective experiences that have meaning. The focus is shifting more and more from individual achievement to the quality of the human connection. Of course, the stopwatch will always be important for some, but it is no longer the sole reason people gather.
The future of communities, whether for running or any other passion, will pass through here. Through the ability to create inclusive spaces where effort is a common language, sweat is a bond, and every step taken together is a small part of the path toward a life that is a little less lonely and a little more shared. And maybe, with a finally improved 5K personal best. But that, in the end, is just a pleasant consequence.