I joined a running club after a terrifying ordeal — I found more than just a hobby

Although many of us started pounding the pavements during lockdown, in 2024, running fever truly took hold.

By April, Strava had 120 million registered users, a 26% increase from the previous year, and on-trend athletics brand, Hoka, has seen record-breaking sales figures.

Places for the Hackney Half marathon 2025 sold out within two weeks, while a staggering 840,318 people entered the ballot of next year’s London Marathon – a new world record, which wildly surpassed the previous year’s total of 578,304.

But we’re not just lacing up our trainers to keep fit. Runners are clocking up the kilometers for all sorts of reasons: to find love, be part of a community, or achieve peace of mind.

Here, Metro.co.uk speaks to three runners about how joining a running club led tolife-changing friendships.

‘It helped me through my stalking nightmare’

When the pandemic hit and the UK was plunged into lockdown in March 2020, Philip Dehany was advised to shield.

As someone living with HIV, medics warned him that catching Covid-19 could be life-threatening.

As such, Philip decided to leave London, and head north to the Lake District, to stay with his parents.

Philip tells Metro.co.uk, that the moved helped him to ‘reconnect’ with his mum and dad, both in their late 60s, but as the days turned into weeks, then months, he began to struggle.

In a sinister turn of events, Philip, then a theatre blogger, had been targeted by an online stalker – a total stranger – who began emailing him.

The man publicly shared Philip’s HIV status (then information only known to close friends and family) and one evening, even phoned Philip’s mum. Philip has described his ordeal as ‘hell’ and says it drove him to the brink of suicide.

‘I found myself becoming more reclusive as I withdrew from social media to hide,’ the 42-year-old recalls.

‘The weekly food shop found me filling the trolley with snacks and junk food to fuel my television marathons, and I began to put on weight.

‘By the end of the lockdowns, when my stalker was finally arrested, I had put on two stone, while hiding from the world in my mother’s back bedroom.’

In the depths of his struggles, Philip reached out to the Terrence Higgins Trust, where he was offered the opportunity to run the London Marathon in support of them.

As part of his training, Philip spent hours running between the neighbouring villages near his family home.

And, his new-found love for running didn’t stop when he returned to London. In the city, he joined a gym called UN1T which ‘welcomed him with open arms’. There, he quickly found a community at the weekly running club they organised.

‘Affectionately known as the “Run to the Pub Club”, members would meet for a pace 7K run along the banks of the Thames criss-crossing Tower Bridge and along the streets, before finishing the evening with a few drinks in a nearby pub,’ Philip recalls.

‘In those tentative first strides in my running shoes, I realised I had found more than just running companions but also my tribe, and a new collection of friends.’

‘The community aspect of the gym along with the structure of the circuit classes had allowed me to meet all sorts of people from different walks of life, and the run club furthered this by introducing me to people that I would never have met ordinarily.’

Some of the best friends Philip met at that club were Bex and Hannah, who would chat to him all the way round the route at the ‘Chatty Friday’ events – and, after months of furthering this connection, he invited them, plus other running club members, to his 40th birthday party.

Philip says he had ‘found [his] people,’ and as the group started to socialise more, meeting up for brunches and going to the theatre together, ‘They offered motivation, laughter and friendship.’

‘Track nights and run clubs led to more challenges and competitions, as my new friends and I took on Hyrox, ATHX and Battle Cancer,’ he continues.

‘I would run another marathon, two half marathons and a 10k raising over £4000 for HIV charities, and at each of them my friends would line the streets to cheer me on.’

According to Philip, the clubs allowed him ‘to meet other like-minded people in a city that you can often feel bewildered and lost in.’

‘They’ve also made me feel part of something, and less alone, whilst collecting a new set of friends for life,’ he adds. ‘It’s been a lifeline for me.’

‘I made connections in the LGBTQ+ community’

Rory Norrington, 28, joined London-based LGBTQ+ running club, Gayns, in March after he came across an Instagram ad. He’d been running solo since 2020 but wanted to forge new connections with other queer people – something he certainly managed.

‘For someone that never really enjoyed sport or felt like I was good at it growing up, to have found a sport I’m good at and enjoy has been such a positive experience and I was eager to share that and meet a community of others like me who share that passion,’ Rory, who lives in South London, tells Metro.co.uk.

The running club he’s joined is open to people of all running abilities, from esteemed athletes who run multiple marathons each year to those who are just trying it out for the first time.

‘I’ve made so many new friends as a result of it. It’s an incredibly inclusive and welcoming environment, and it’s so nice to have a shared interest that doesn’t just involve going out, as much as I enjoy that too,’ Rory adds.

Building up the confidence to go to the first session alone, he started chatting to the other runners immediately. Now, he notes that there are ‘always new people joining’ week after week.

Since Rory first connected with running, he’s competed in two races: the 2021 Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon and his first full marathon on Australia’s Sunshine Coast this summer, for which he finished in 85th place out of over 13,000 runners.

Through this, he raised £2,918 for both Surviving The Loss Of Your World and Centrepoint UK in memory of his younger cousin, Sam, who passed away from an undiagnosed condition called Malrotation two years ago, just one month before his 10 birthday. And his next goal is to complete an ultramarathon.

Rory says: ‘Running has undoubtedly helped my mental health and resilience. I’ve gained a lot of self-belief about what I’m capable of and it has helped me to stay focused.

‘I love the sense of achievement that running provides, whether it’s just getting out and going for a short run or working towards a bigger milestone.’

‘I wanted to start a new chapter’

When Alison Little moved to North Devon in 2007, she knew no one.

Having relocated to a small village, she was keen to connect with new friends. And, as a milestone birthday approached, she wanted to give up smoking and get fit.

‘One of the mums from the school gates had already been to a local run club,’ explains Alison, now 56. ‘So I decided to go along with her. It was lovely to have some moral support when starting a new venture.’

Alison’s weekly runs – during which she felt motivated but never pressured or intimidated to keep up with the rest of the group – quickly became a staple in her social calendar.

When that first group folded, she eagerly joined a new club – the all-women Chatty Paces running group – and was soon asked to become a running coach. Now, she’s a qualified England Athletics Coach, specialising in women who are complete novices at running – just as she was when she first put on her trainers 17 years ago.

For Alison though, it wasn’t until the Dublin Marathon 2010 – an event her run club had hosted a trip to – that she met her closest running buddy, Wendy.

The mum has now run 112 races (a combination of marathons and ultra-marathons), and Wendy has been by her side for almost all of them.

‘We’ve done some epic running adventures together, the most recent being the Beyond The Ultimate Ice Ultra,’ Alison reflects. ‘This has been one of my all-time favourite multi-day races, and we’ve already signed up for the Beyond The Ultimate Jungle Ultra next year.’

For both Alison and Wendy, running is a release from everyday stresses; an escape to relish in, even if just for an hour.

‘You can just pop on a pair of trainers and off you go – there’s no restriction if you’re on holiday or working away,’ says Alison.

‘Running in a club or even running big events with a friend is so much more fun. You look after each other and you don’t really get a sense of being alone.’

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.