Tuesday Night Urban Run Club

I found this interesting article on ajc.com.

ATLANTA: Jogging club has a mission: Chasing the fear of crime

By Vicki Conwell

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Along the cold, dark streets of the Old Fourth Ward, Grant Park and other intown neighborhoods, three Atlantans jogged in unison past homes, local pubs and small shops.

They trotted by Standard Food & Spirits, where a popular bartender had recently been murdered, and made a donation to the reward fund. They took photos in front of a dilapidated motel along Hilliard Street to document how it had become an incubator for vagrants and illicit activity.

Since December, their weekly Tuesday evening runs have attracted a following, and the original threesome has grown into a throng of 30 or so people, including a bicycle-riding child, a mother pushing a stroller and a few baby boomers. A Facebook page about their free-to-join group has attracted more than 200 supporters.

From varying walks of life —- as well as ages, racial and ethnic backgrounds, political and socioeconomic profiles —- they run with a unity of purpose: to reclaim their community.

“We’re not going to be scared, we’re not going to be worried,” said Fiona Sites-Bowen, 21, a founder of the Tuesday Night Urban Run Club. “We don’t want thuggery and crime to keep us from doing what we love to do.”

Following the January murder of bartender John Henderson, the running club did not retreat to safer ground or opt for another form of exercise.

Instead, they took to the streets, hoping their dusk-to-dark pavement pounding would convey a message similar to that of the National Night Out campaign or the annual “Take Back the Night” walk/run in Decatur: People can be safe even at night, when most violent crimes tend to occur.

“We run in areas where we as women would not be safe alone,” said co-founder Indra Tobias, 39, a downtown Atlanta resident and hair salon owner. She likens the group to a traveling neighborhood watch program, creating awareness about crime and helping foster community pride.

City Council member Kwanza Hall says the runs represent more than just a feel-good gesture. “It’s no magic bullet,” said Hall, “[but] it indicates that people are watching and that they care, and that’s a good thing.”

During the three-mile runs, often accompanied by cheers from store owners and residents and an occasional police escort, the faster runners regularly loop back to ensure safety and support for the slower runners. The “no runner left behind” approach builds cohesiveness among the runners, who always remain within a city block of each other.

“Not leaving a person behind —- that’s the same thing we need to do for our neighborhoods and families,” said Hall, a former high school runner who plans to join the group one day.