Runners of all ages and backgrounds gather by coffee shops and trail heads while most of Columbia is still asleep, ready to start the morning off on the right foot.

Run club culture is growing in the city, stretching from Five Points north to the Saluda Riverwalk. Although each run club moves at its own pace, members are all in search of a common rhythm: connection.

“Each run club around the country has its own sort of heartbeat,” said Carson Jones, a founder of Run With Christ Columbia. 

Jones kick-started the all-ages run club in September 2025 after being a part of RWC Cincinnati, a pioneer chapter of the national organization. Inspired by Cincinnati’s overwhelming sense of community, he looked to replicate it in Columbia on the lawn of Radius Church in Olympia.

The club is characterized by a 10-minute devotional, free energy drinks and hype house music, all ways RWC Columbia aims to present an accessible opportunity for anyone to find a sense of belonging. 

“We’re not a home, we’re not a church, but we’re another way that students can get connected,” Jones said.

Like bringing people together from different walks of faith, the Panhellenic Run Club looks to do something similar: Connect college girls from different sororities from the University of South Carolina. 

Aislinn Bell experienced the family-like culture of high school cross country and wanted to provide others with the same feeling. When she told her sorority president about her plans to start a Kappa Delta run club, the two of them hatched the idea of a club inclusive to all sororities.

“I was like, yep, we’re running with it, I love it, let’s do it,” said Bell, founder of the Panhellenic Run Club. 

The club took off casually, according to Bell.

“I just kind of started it,” she said. “The girls on my floor started to come, and they started inviting their friends, and now it’s become a really big thing.”

Since starting, the run club now has girls from every sorority on campus join in.

“It’s created a great culture of happiness and togetherness, really,” Bell said. “I think girls also notice when you get up and you run, you just feel better.”

While many clubs started with USC students, the sense of togetherness doesn’t only apply to college. The running movement in Columbia spans generations.

Local neighborhood residents, high school students and even college professors all show up for morning routes with Blossom Athletics, a club that went from a humble handful of athletes to 30-40 people in a matter of weeks.

“There’s actually a rich running history in Columbia,” said co-founder Henry Wood. “People don’t know about it, but there is.”

Wood sought an escape from mundane marathon training in the fall of 2024. He looked for any runners willing to go the miles with him. Blossom Athletics was born, providing steady company that lasted past the marathon’s finish.

“It’s just fun seeing everyone get faster, and start racing more, too,” Wood said. “I’m a big proponent of, if you’ve had your days in high school or in college racing, it’s not over.”

For lifelong runners such as Olivia Hoyhtya, the run club provides simple joys beyond racing. Whether it’s early wakeups and post-run coffee or conversations that make the neighborhood loops go by fast, having a group of people who share the love for fitness is unmatched.

“Running is just definitely my stress reliever,” Hoyhtya said. “It’s such a bonding experience when you’re doing really hard runs together.”