<body><div>Sneakers collide with the pavement as a herd of runners rush down Huntington Avenue. Boston is a runner’s city, and this culture stretches to Northeastern, where athletes flock to Northeastern Club Running, or NUCR, and the Women’s Run Club. The city’s running culture stretches back over a hundred years, with the Boston Marathon being the world’s oldest annual marathon and one of the biggest celebrations of Bostonian pride. Consisting of 161 members, NUCR attracts students from all different backgrounds, both in casual and competitive distance running, as well as sprinting. The club meets Monday through Thursday at Krentzman Quad and consists of two easy run days and two workouts for distance, or two strength days, and two track workouts for sprinters. The Women’s Run Club has around 30 members and similarly attracts both casual and competitive women runners and meets every Sunday. The runners are usually working toward a race, whether it is a 6k or 8k in the fall, track events in the spring or the Boston Marathon in April. Ryan Strawbridge, the president of NUCR who has been running for 12 years, is a regular competitor for the team, consistently going to regional competitions to race against club teams across the Northeast. “I like competing, but I also really like the meditative aspects of running and being able to get out there and just have a conversation with people. It’s great. The social aspect of running is probably my favorite part of running,” said Strawbridge, who is a fifth-year mechanical engineering major. To Alexa Friedman, NUCR was a way to keep running on a team after years of doing it before college. “I did run in high school. I ran cross country and track, and then I wanted to continue in college, because by my senior year of high school, after six years of running for my high school and middle school, I finally started to enjoy it,” she said. Aaron Wu, a third-year data science and psychology combined major and NUCR member, began running around six years ago and had a different path to competing in high school. “I started running around during the time of the pandemic because I used to play basketball, but then after we were all stuck at home, I just started running around the community, and then I decided to do cross country in the fall, and that was the best decision I ever made,” Wu said.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3j3AVD_1H2HWHwI00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3j3AVD_1H2HWHwI00" width="2001" height="1334" ><figcaption>The Northeastern Women’s Run Club poses for a photo during one of their Sunday runs Oct. 4. The Women’s Run Club hosted various themed runs, such as a Bakery run and breast cancer awareness runs. (Lili Sposato)</figcaption></figure>Maverick Donald-Wright, a third-year math and data science combined major, started running in college without much experience, but she found that the Women’s Run Club was welcoming to newcomers and a great way to see the city.“I didn’t plan on joining the club, but I saw them tabling at Fall Fest,” Donald-Wright said. “The e-board was super friendly. They try to get to know everyone, and it creates a great environment around the club.” For students returning from N.U.in or one of Northeastern’s global campuses, adjustment to Boston can be difficult, but running can provide a sense of stability. Strawbridge heard about NUCR while he was a first-year studying in Greece. “I was N.U.in, so a few of us who were in N.U.in had heard about the club just through other people talking about it, so we had planned before we even left to join the club once we came back,” he said. In planning to join club running, Strawbridge reached out to a member of the team at the time and recalled how welcoming he and the other upperclassmen were to new members. While running is regularly referred to as an individual sport, the camaraderie and support systems formed in run clubs create unique and long-lasting communities. Students often find that no one understands the highs of finally getting a personal record after months of training or the lows of getting injured like fellow runners. The constant willingness to accept new members no matter their speed and not being bound to a set number of members is what makes the community of a run club special. “I’d say most of my friends nowadays are on the running club, and it’s a pretty easy thing to find a community in because the whole time you’re running, you’re talking, “ Strawbridge said.When asked what keeps her coming back to NUCR during her time at Northeastern, Friedman believes that the community plays a big part in it.“Definitely the community. It’s also just nice to have people to run together because I’ll probably run regardless,” she said. “But the community is a really good way to have people to run with, and also the friends that I’ve made there are definitely people that I want to keep seeing.” </div></body>

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Sneakers collide with the pavement as a herd of runners rush down Huntington Avenue. Boston is a runner’s city, and this culture stretches to Northeastern, where athletes flock to Northeastern Club Running, or NUCR, and the Women’s Run Club. The city’s running culture stretches back over a hundred...

Running is hard. These students love it anyway.

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Sneakers collide with the pavement as a herd of runners rush down Huntington Avenue. Boston is a runner’s city, and this culture stretches to Northeastern,

Running is hard. These students love it anyway.

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