Run Clubs: The New Third Space?
Sociologist Ray Oldenbury, created the term third place or space to describe the places outside of the home (the first place) and the workplace (the second place) where people go to converse with others and connect with their community. In this casual and social environment, no one is obligated to be there and cost should not prevent people from attending. Third Places: What Are They and Why Are They Important to American Culture? | English Language Institute (uchicago.edu)
Third spaces have been in decline for decades. Some of the earliest reasons for their disappearance can be linked to increased car dependency and how new communities and housing developments are built, often referred to as suburbia. In recent years, the rising cost of living, internet access, social media, remote work, and most notably the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed significantly to the steady decline of third spaces and the decrease in ease of access to existing ones.
Common examples of third spaces are libraries, parks, churches, bars, book clubs, cafes, Veteran associations, bingo halls, laundromats, hair salons, and anywhere you might join or rejoin folks to connect and build a sense of community beyond your nuclear family or work colleagues.
Third spaces are not new. Run clubs are not new. But are run clubs the new third space?
Run clubs are not perfect, some of them are cost prohibitive. Some of them have a noticeable lack of diversity, some of them are large and make forming connections challenging, some of them are not as inclusive as they claim or could be. All of them are not pickle-ball! But what they have revealed is that so many of us are yearning for somewhere to go where we are inspired, valued, share, and contribute to something beyond ourselves.
With the steady decline of third spaces over the last several decades and the steady rise of connection through movement, activities like pickleball and running might just be the blueprint we all need for bringing third spaces back to the center of human connection.
If you call yourself a “runner” you’ve likely observed the increase in running and run clubs in your community and across the Globe. If you’re “not a runner” you’ve likely noticed it too.
In New York City, it can seem like I learn of a new run club every week. Dating, marathon training, gender, allyship, pace, addiction recovery, ethnicity, and neighborhood are just a few of the foundational reasons why so many of these clubs exist. The themes and competitiveness levels are diverse, but each club provides a third space community for a group of folks, connected first by a single common factor and remaining so through their love of running and desire for community.
It’s Tuesday, the clocks read 5:02, Bart (my partner) isn’t home yet, but he will walk through the door any minute. Once he does, we’ve have about 30 minutes before we need to be back out the door and on the G train to McCarren Park Track, where our run club meets every Tuesday morning and evening at seven o'clock.
We’re both tired. We talk about our days and take a second to relax and put work aside on the 40 minute commute to north Brooklyn.
We are two people who have now spent more of our lives running than not, spent many years coaching, and could simply go to the track closest to our house, get in our workout, likely more tailored to our races (we don’t proclaim to be long distance runners) and get back home.
So what is it that makes us drag ourselves 40 min each way, every Tuesday night, to run with folks who were once strangers, that we now call friends? Well, Brooklyn Track Club is our third space.
Yes, we get in a workout, as does everyone else, but we also catch up, make plans, cheer each other on, hang out afterward, and build community with an incredible array of people who represent the deep tapestry of Brooklyn and running in NYC.
Photo Credit: Jay-Dee Samonte | @jaydashdee_
It is the ability to share goals, even the ones that scare you with people who get just as excited about what’s possible for your running journey as you do. It is seeing the Medal Monday smiles of the folks who’ve just completed their first or their 20th mile, 5k, or marathon, so many of those training hours spent on the track or road with you.
It is embracing an early Saturday morning, in a city with so much else to offer with a group of folks who also want to cross their next finish line with pride. It is seeing firsthand the beauty of amateurism. Encouraging those that you meet and grow to love, chip away at their goals week after week. Celebrating what our bodies can do at all ages.
It is releasing the challenges and celebrations of life. It is building friendships with folks who will run with you step after step in pursuit of better mental and physical health.
Run clubs are the new third space because they give us the freedom to come as we are. No experience or years of experience and do something we enjoy with other people.
They provide the opportunity to build relationships with those you would never meet otherwise. They open our worlds to what can happen when you slip on a pair of sneakers and go see what is possible.
They show us what we can achieve and believe when we share our goals with people who care. They remind us that hard work does pay off.
They create friendships that supersede abilities, race, careers, and socioeconomic class. Running doesn't care about those things (brands do), running cares that you’ll line up beside me and I beside you, pushing ourselves to something undiscovered.
The workout is done. I run to the water nearby to cool down. As I re-enter the track I see the small groups that form every Tuesday after we’ve all done the work to get a little bit better together. People who were strangers not so long ago sharing, laughing, and making plans to grab a bite to eat, hang out on the weekend, or sign up for another race together.
Community and movement, risk and heartbreak, fear and achievement. Running like so many other sports levels the playing field. Maybe the greatest of third spaces, that sooner or later requires us all to show up as we would in the first place, at the starting line, bare, vulnerable, in pursuit of grand goals that we won’t yet whisper, flanked by incredible support on each shoulder.
So why do we drag ourselves to north Brooklyn every week? Connection, friendship, inspiration, and the opportunity to uplift the people who cheer us on and do the thing we love. Run together.
Curious and want to learn more about Third spaces? Closure of ‘Third Places’? Exploring Potential Consequences for Collective Health and Wellbeing - PMC (nih.gov)
