The Running Club at UC Riverside Kicks Off the Spring Quarter
Dressed in a sleek black jacket acquired via participation in a recent 15 kilometer contest — the Hot Chocolate 15k, heralded as “San Diego’s Sweetest Race,” which resulted in a fifth place finish in the female 20-24 age group — and rocking a t-shirt promoting the Running Club at the University of California, Riverside, underneath, Samantha “Sam” Avalos led the pack for most of the way on her club’s first short distance outing of the spring 2022 quarter.
Avalos, 21, is a senior on the cusp of earning a degree in media and cultural studies at UC Riverside, the Inland Empire’s own public R1 university founded in 1954 on the grounds of the long-retired Citrus Experiment Station established in 1907. She’s served as president of the Running Club since the winter term of her junior year and first joined the club as a freshman.
“I didn't even plan on becoming an officer because I was going through some juicy trauma of high school because having my teammates on track, as much as I [appreciated] them, I kind of wish they would have given me respect for being captain,” she said cheerfully and candidly, without animus.
By her own assessment, she was never a “star athlete,” but Avalos earned quite a few points for her high school track team and was one of the only girls on the squad willing to run distance. None of her teammates would toe the starting line at the two-mile event.
When she got to UCR, the former president of the Running Club on campus noticed that she always made it to their practices her first year, and he asked her to become a Trailblazer, one of the officer positions within the club. Initially reticent with respect to leadership positions, the presidency in particular, she wasn’t excited about entering a “popularity contest,” but she received advice and soon learned being resourceful and knowing how to competently communicate with people made her an effective officer.
The club, which is open to university students but also welcomes individuals from the surrounding community, will meet in Lot 26 on UCR campus at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays this spring until Avalos and other seniors graduate in June.
The Running Club’s first spring quarter meeting took place on March 29. A group of about 11 people gathered that evening in a grassy area between two baseball fields near the campus parking lot. Upon arrival, individuals were asked to fill out a waiver form and then to circle up for a few pre-run announcements.
Issa Pineda, the club’s vice president, cordially greeted the crew.
Avalos mentioned that after Thursday’s run the club would be heading over to Veg & Go Plant Based Fast Food on University Avenue to socialize and refuel, and she encouraged those gathered to sign up for the upcoming Cesar Chavez 5k run/walk.
Although formal registration is not required to participate in the club’s regular runs, Avalos said interested persons could pay $20 to sign up for formal Running Club membership. Registered members receive club t-shirts. In recent years, Avalos has designed new images for each iteration of the club’s graphic tees.
While encircled, everyone in the endurance-minded group introduced themselves and shared what they did over spring break. The club’s officers explained the route options. That evening the routes included a relatively short campus loop of about two and a half miles, a medium-distance trek of a few miles more, and a slightly longer jaunt for the fittest and most enterprising among the undergraduates (and one former lecturer) gathered together that day.
Full disclosure: This author, pictured below inadvertently (but inexcusably) standing in front of another runner in a post-run group photo, was the one person present over 30 years of age and not enrolled at UCR. And you better believe it reader, the ~2.4 mile distance was plenty for this writer that Tuesday, especially given an arguably ill-advised effort to maintain the quick pace set by those 15 or so years younger.
Avalos, who also opted for the short distance that day, assumed the lead early on and moved at a strong, consistent clip throughout, taking runners along Canyon Crest Drive and later down West Campus Drive. The pack ran past The Barn, a renovated patio bar, with roots dating back to 1917, reopened as of summer of 2020 and now serving signature beers made from local citrus available only on campus. Runners on the short route made their way around Campus Drive and then braved both uphill and downhill terrain to circle back toward Lot 26.
On a downhill, Avalos encountered two runners headed in the other direction and enthusiastically asked them to join the Running Club without breaking stride. At an intersection about half a mile from the start and finish point, another runner took the lead as the club’s president stopped for a minute to wait on the rest of the crew.
Avalos, who grew up playing team sports like soccer, softball and basketball before gravitating toward distance running, took off again once the back of the pack was in view, swiftly attacking the home stretch, motivating music playing from her mobile device as she made her way along the campus sidewalk.
“I think what motivates me is just, like, knowing that I want to keep myself fit and healthy because running has always been the sport I love,” she said later.
After finishing around 6:15 p.m., Avalos and her fellow endurance athletes waited on the grass in the greater left field area beyond one of the baseball diamonds next to the parking lot where the group met, sticking around until everyone finished. Runners who completed the different distances continued trickling in for the next 30 minutes.
Amid a flurry of high-fives as all who started out that evening finished up, post-run discussion topics ranged from stretching, to fastest 5k times, to humorous gender relations, to graduate school prospects.
A few days prior, Avalos received an acceptance letter from a master’s degree program at California State University, Los Angeles. Echoing a demonstrable ability to endure on display at Running Club events, and reflecting the perseverance buttressed by persistence evinced every time she hits the trails or concrete to train, the fourth-year undergrad intends to remain in academia and one day become a college professor. Pineda, the club’s VP, plans to pursue a doctorate in the field of psychology after earning his bachelor’s degree.
Those who made it out for the first Running Club practice of the quarter offered each other congratulations before the meeting adjourned as the sun started to set. The club will continue to meet three times per week for runs of varying distances — and for socials and extracurricular excursions, including an upcoming hike — the remainder of the term.
“Just come by. Get to know us,” Avalos said, entreating interested persons to connect with the club on social media or to stop by if they see members tabling on campus, before adding: “We're regular people too, just like them. We give them motivation to want to train, workout, meet new people — because a lot of times, when you come out to practice, everybody, they want to say ‘hi’ to people. Even when we don't tell the members to say ‘hi’ [to] new people they just do it instinctively. [We] want to make them feel welcome because [Running Club regulars] were there in their shoes once, so we get it.”