Bowling Green community member Jake Poiry began running at night to help with his mental health struggles and his nightly runs have evolved into a running club on campus, creating a community that runs for both fitness and mental well-being.
Campus Night Runs meets at 8 p.m. every Monday and Thursday and community members can participate in 3-mile runs.
“I just started it a couple of weeks ago,” said Poiry. “I thought, ‘why don’t I get something going in terms of night running and running on campus?’ and people just started showing up.”
Tim Hoodlebrink, a member of the running club and friend of Jake’s, said Campus Night Runs is a fun activity and great atmosphere.
“It gets better each week, because new people are joining and it makes it more fun,” said Hoodlebrink. “We have different speeds of people, and that makes it better too, because it’s fun to set a new pace and stick with somebody else for a change.”
Poiry said he chose to host the club at night because he found running to be more peaceful in the evening, with just the right number of people around.
“Listening to the music I wanted, feeling the wind blow, seeing the trees shake, seeing other people walking around. It made me feel as if I wasn’t exactly as alone as I thought I was,” said Poiry.
Poiry said he started running as a way to beat his own mental problems and he said turning his nightly runs into a club was a way for him to help other people and give them a safe space.
“I started it just to beat mental problems and beat stress and every run I did, I felt my mentality changing,” said Poiry. “I got to a point where I felt as if I wasn’t doing anything special for myself and I reached a limit. Once I learned that running had the power to change my mind, I thought about other people and what it could do for them.”
“Staying active as you get older can be tougher,” said Hoodlebrink. “Joining these kinds of things gives me something to look forward to.”
Porty said any age and any pace are welcome in the club and different groups within the club tend to branch off.
“There is a group of us guys, a group of girls and a group of my daughter, niece and a couple of other parents who bring their children,” said Poiry. “All the children stick together and my wife usually sticks with the children. There is also a group of walkers, people who want to lose weight but can’t exactly run the full three miles yet.”
Poiry said he would like to get more people involved of all ages, no matter if they are running to lose weight, stay fit, stay mentally fit or overcome any problems they are going through.
“It’s about facing your fears and your problems, getting up and getting out and showing up,” said Poiry. “I’m trying to get good people around in a good environment.”
Campus Night Runs is open to all with no fee.
