Flanked by cheers and tiny paper cups of water, Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi dominated the women’s field in the 2025 Boston Marathon with a course-record time of 2:17:22. But even in a city where world-class athletes flock to make running history, not all runners are competing for speed.

All year long, dozens of Greater Boston run clubs meet to promote healthy physical and mental habits, raise money for charity and build lively social circles. Some clubs cater to seasoned veterans, but many, like the Boston Bulldogs Running Club, encourage those of all ages and skillsets to “just show up.”

“I was not a runner,” Bulldogs member Meaghan Langlois said. “I had no business being part of a running club, but at that point in my life, I was really trying to find new direction and structure and stability and sobriety.”

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Founded by Coach Mike Ferullo, the Bulldogs are a nonprofit based in Chestnut Hill that provides support to those battling drug and alcohol addictions. Though Langlois showed up to her first group run on a cold February morning, she said the joy of “running in a community” gave her lifelong friendships and changed the trajectory of her life.

“For me and for our members, feeling good and having fun were not things that were extremely present in our lives before getting sober,” said Langlois. “So when we found a place to be able to do both of those things, and it [was] healthy and it was encouraged, it became addicting very quickly.”

Ben Spaulding’s tenure with the Somerville Road Runners began in a similarly spontaneous manner. He would regularly see members of the club while running alone, but it wasn’t until a friend pushed him to join a run starting at Casey’s, their neighborhood bar, that he overcame his nervousness and “fell in love” with the people involved.

“What ends up happening for almost all those people, once they get to a few club runs or a few training sessions or a track workouts, is that they start meeting other people and they start making friends,” Spaulding said. “And they’re like, ‘Oh! There’s people like me who might be into sourdough bread baking as well as running a marathon.’”

Nearly a decade later, Spaulding serves as the club’s president, overseeing 600 active, dues-paying members. Even though he’s run three Boston Marathons, he’s still partial to SRR’s longstanding “Bur-run,” which meets every Monday night in Davis Square.

“You spend a lot of time with folks during long runs or weekly runs — wherever it might be — and people all have different goals,” Spaulding said. “If I can help someone get to that personal best, or help them run that first mile or get to whatever they’re hoping to achieve, that makes my day, and I enjoy that quite a bit.”

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But for Eddie Kohler, who runs with Frontrunners Boston, the joy of running comes from “not pushing,” and just appreciating the simplicity of the sport. Frontrunners Boston is the city’s oldest LGBTQ+ run club, and a local chapter of International Front Runners, founded in 1974 for queer athletes and their allies.

“A lot of the running clubs in our area have high turnover because of the student population,” Kohler said. “But then you’re meeting people who have been with [Frontrunners] since 1980 when we were founded, and people who are visiting from other clubs around the world.”

While Kohler described the club’s temperament as more “chill” than most, he emphasized the continued difficulty of being an LGBTQ+ athlete. Members still communicate on a private, applicant-only Facebook page, and even in a city as liberal-minded as Boston, some trans participants feel “particularly vulnerable.”

The key to keeping members, he said, is the “sense of community” and belonging that Frontrunners fosters.

“We have very fast runners who are maybe not very fast coming-outers,” Kohler said. “So they’re on the side and you say ‘hi’ to them and they sort of hide. But as long as you’re there and open, then hopefully they’ll come back.”

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