If you’re anything like me, when you hear that a local brewery has a hand in a run club, the song “one of these things is not like the other one” starts playing in your head. But it’s true!
As it happened, Brian Mister, social media maestro for NoDa Brewing Company, had a momentary life crisis. In college, he’d been quite active running and playing soccer. Now he was working for a brewery and enjoying the spoils without the same activity level he’d had. He wanted to get back to being fit and the idea was born! Brian knew several breweries around Raleigh and Durham had run clubs, so starting with Facebook and Twitter, he started the NoDa Brewing Run Club. The first run had 20 runners.
These days, the runs average 120 runners, with warmer, nicer days seeing even higher numbers! OrthoCarolina is now a sponsor of the group. Brian says the beauty of the group is two-fold: (1) There is no competition – everyone from marathoners to beginners and stroller-pushing runners get together and have a great time running. And (2) it’s all about the experience – socializing, running and great beer! There are one-mile, three-mile and five-mile routes, all marked with spray-painted pint glasses on the roads and power-washing clean graffiti on the sidewalks. The routes are also consistently posted on Facebook and in the e-mail newsletters.
The group is also all about keeping things local and about the neighborhood. NoDa neighbors frequently put out water for the runners, including dog bowls for those running with their pets. They include NoDa restaurants and bars in their fun runs, too!
As if you needed another reason to get up and run with the NoDa Run Club, they’re also a very charitable group! They work with Running Works to get the organization donations of both money and shoes. They’re even organizing a 5K and Fun Fest to benefit the organization!
If you’re interested in joining the run club, they start at 6:15 every Wednesday from NoDa Brewery. You can also check them out online at:
www.nodabrewing.com/noda-brewing-run–club
www.facebook.com/NoDaBrewingRunClub
https://twitter.com/NoDaRunClub
Image: NoDa Brewing’s Run Club’s Facebook Page
