Across the country, running clubs are gaining momentum. While some are racing towards lofty goals, like hitting a PR at tomorrow’s New York City Marathon, others are taking things slow and steady. Case in point? New York’s Slow Girl Run Club, a pace-inclusive group that prides itself on making the sport feel welcoming to anyone. To learn more, we spoke with its founder, Isabel DiGiovanni…

Q: What motivated you to start a run club — particularly one that caters to a slower pace?

Last September, I was training for the New York City Marathon and was looking to join a run club … Many said they were pace inclusive and that anyone could join, but when I’d show up for a run, I’d kind of be left in the dust. Everybody would run eight-minute miles, which is totally fine, but not what I was looking for. I started the Slow Girl Run Club because I wanted to have a pace-inclusive club where we say we’re running 11- or 11:30-minute miles — and we actually do that … I know slow is a very relative term. We use [it to mean] a very casual, non-intimidating pace, where you can just show up and not really give it your all. [It was important to] have that in the name [because] people see themselves. They’re like, ‘Oh, that’s actually me.’

Q: Has that been the case?

[I knew] there was a demographic that was looking for this kind of club, but I didn’t realize it would take off as much as it did ... We basically started with seven of my friends, and I made one TikTok [about us running]. The next time, 50 people showed up. And now, so many people show up every week.

Q: Given that they’re not coming to run faster, what are the reasons so many people participate?

Community is a huge part of why people are in the club. Runners come in all shapes and sizes and run at all different paces — so it’s important to find people who run at your pace, who you can run with outside of the club, and who [share] the same interests … [I’ve asked] some people at the run club if they knew each other before joining, and they’re like, ‘No we met here.’ Or, I’ll see the different group chats being made or the people running on Strava together. That’s awesome to see … [Also], as a woman, running at night — especially as we get deeper into fall and winter — can be very difficult to do in the city. But having a big group of women [can] make you feel safer, at least in my experience. 

Q: What’s your biggest piece of advice for someone who wants to get into running?

Don’t worry about pace. Trying to run fast — especially if you’ve never really run before or if you only ran when you were younger — [can] be so discouraging because you might feel out of shape or like you can’t do it … So [instead of] worrying about the metrics, even mileage, just get out there, put your feet on the ground, and think about what makes you feel good. It’s supposed to make you feel happy … [My club] only runs 2 miles … People who don’t think they can [even do that] will say to me [afterward], “I had no idea I could do this. This gave me so much confidence” … [It’s] a great feeling to hear someone say that — and to have more people get into running and [realize] it’s not as scary as [they] might think … I hope that the running high doesn’t ever die down.