AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Morning Jo’s run club in Austin promotes building a faster and stronger community. The inclusive running club has a pace for everyone and meets every Tuesday mornings at Jo’s Coffee on South Congress.
Cameron Nguyen is one of the group leaders who explained how The Morning Jo’s have been running through the streets of Austin for seven years. Anyone who wants to join them can follow their Facebook or Instagram @themorningjos.
Nguyen mentioned running in the morning is an effective way for the group to avoid the stubborn Texas heat.
Meteorologist Tommy House: I’m here with Cameron from the Morning Jo’s. So Cameron, tell us about your run club.
Nguyen: The Morning Jo’s are a run club that has been in Austin for the past seven years. We actually just celebrated our seventh anniversary two or three weeks ago. We’re located on Jo’s Coffee on South Congress, and we meet there every 6 a.m. on Tuesdays, just for a little three-to-six mile run down through the Capitol, down through campus and back around.
I think what makes Jo’s unique as a run group is we are very pace-inclusive and very safety-focused. So where we go with that is, we have pacers from 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 9:00, 12:00 and even a walking crew.
So regardless of your pace or comfort within a run group, it’s definitely inviting for anyone to show up.
House: You mentioned you run earlier in the day. What are the benefits to that, compared to running during the afternoon hours?
Nguyen: With us meeting at 6 a.m. it’s definitely dark and early, so it’s not as much about the heat that a lot of runners struggle with whenever they’re running in the daylight. But all that being said, there is a humidity aspect in the morning, but it’s all worth it, because a lot of times in these morning run groups, you’re just with a lot of your friends, a lot of like-minded individuals, and it’s a great way to mentally start your day. Yeah, you’re waking up early and you have to put your feet to the floor, set that alarm clock. But once you’re up and about, you’re just starting off your day on a positive note with your friends, a little sip of coffee, a little sweet treat, your run’s over with you.
So I would say benefits, besides the obvious of you’re not running in the heat of Texas is all the mental benefits and social benefits of just being around everyone that you care about that are working towards the same goals.
House: How can people get in touch with your run club?
Nguyen: The morning Jo’s are actually on Facebook and Instagram, so it’s really just a grassroots organization.
We just have our Instagram channel, which is the morning Jo’s, if you’re wanting to be involved in it. We try to limit those barriers of entry, so there’s no cost to attend.
You just show up. If you have any questions, you can relocate over to the Instagram channel, and we have a few highlights there that will cover the basic need-to-knows before showing up, though, we do ask that you fill out a flyer, which is also within our Instagram bio, that’s just for safety purposes and just being a part of the group. But aside from that, free to enter.