Run Oxford Offers Community Fellowship and Leg Up on the Competition

Savannah Woods
Hottytoddy.com Contributor 

Five years ago, four Oxonians came together to establish the first running club in Oxford that focused on supporting and preparing runners to compete. Since then, the group has accumulated a large following in the community with more than 1,400 Facebook members on their Oxford MS Runners page and more than 200 paid group members of Run Oxford who have voting rights and extra perks. 

Picture courtesy of runoxford.com.

Founding member and current president of Run Oxford, Nathan Hammer, said the founding members wanted to create a unique group within the Oxford community. 

“We allow people to participate in our activities who are not paid members so we can have outreach to the community,” Hammer said. “One of the reasons we started the group was to get like-minded individuals together who like running so they can have running partners. It is easier to run 10 miles at 6 a.m. if there is a group of other people there to run it with you and encourage you.” 

Hammer said the social aspect of the group is what makes them different than others. 

The Great 38 Race. Picture courtesy of runoxford.com.

“There are running groups in lots of communities around the world—some much more rigid and goal-oriented about training times than us—but what we found was having social engagements within our club was key,” he said. 

Weekly Running Events 

Mondays: Training Run

Tuesdays: Track Tuesday 

Thursdays: Growler Group

Saturdays: Group Long Run

Photo courtesy of Oxford MS Runners Facebook page.

Each day is unique and different with a fun event for runners to enjoy. On Mondays, Training Run members meet in Lamar Park to work together on preparing for half marathons or full marathons. Track Tuesday members meet at the Oxford Middle School track to run in the evenings.

The Growler Group, one of the club’s most popular, meets on Thursday evenings to run and end their night at The Oxford Growler to enjoy cold beers and fellow runner camaraderie. The last scheduled run of the week is the Group Long Run on Saturday mornings. On this run, the group meets to run and end their morning at Uptown Coffee for a drink on The Square. 

The Spash n Dash race. Picture courtesy of runoxford.com.

In addition to the weekly runs, Run Oxford hosts yearly events. In October, they conduct The Great 38 Race with several different racing options in honor of Chucky Mullins. They also host the Splash n Dash, which is one of the only free, timed 5K’s for kids in the nation. 

“Oxford has a really big running community — you’ll see people running all the time,” Hammer said. “But letting people know there is a group for them where they can run with others, I think that is really key and it makes us different. Oxford is a very social community and we welcome all students and residents to join us and enjoy.”