Weekly routes vary, but running club always starts and ends runs at Dalton Brewing Co.

Published 5:50 pm Monday, October 5, 2020

On a temperate early fall evening, the first day of October, members of the Dalton Brewing Company Running Club (Run DBC) gathered in front of Dalton Brewing on West King Street to run around the city — just as they have weekly for the past two-plus years in what has become a beloved ritual.

Running “can be very social, and this club has attracted some really wonderful people,” said local attorney Rob Cowan, who founded the running club. Additionally, running is “a great stress reliever.”

Shortly after Dalton Brewing Co. opened in early 2018, Cowan was having discussions with the owners, and he suggested a running club that would meet at the pub.

“We thought it would be a great way to get people out and involved, and hook it up with the brewery,” Cowan said. “After a good run, a beer is always nice.”

It’s important to maintain the correct order, “run, first, beer, second,” Marten Hutchison said with a laugh. “Who doesn’t love running and beer?”

The club is open to all runners regardless of ability level, and the focus is on “fun,” Cowan said. “Fast or slow, everyone promotes, and this is a very encouraging group.”

A key to keeping people running is “running with someone,” which is why running clubs like Run DBC are ideal, Hutchison said. “Everybody else is going, so you think ‘I should go, too.'”

Hutchison joined the club shortly after it launched in 2018, learning about it through social media. Hutchison, who is the lead adviser for the Fighting Mongooses, the Northwest Georgia College & Career Academy FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics team, had lapsed with his running during the busy robotics season, so a running club was just what he needed for motivation.

“I started running cross country when I was at Dalton High School, so running has just been a habit for me, but I (tend to) fall off the wagon during robotics season,” he said. Run DBC was a sign that “I needed to get off the couch and go run.”

The weekly runs begin and end in front of Dalton Brewing Co., and Run DBC also hosts special events periodically throughout the year in addition to the regular Thursday jaunts. There’s no cost to join.

Routes vary each week to “keep it interesting,” Cowan said. During warm summer nights, the route rarely goes more than about three miles, while routes can be four or five miles on cooler evenings.

“I like running, and there are lots of fun places to run” with Run DBC, said Jose Martinez, who joined the club roughly a year ago after hearing about it through friends and became a regular. Plus, “everybody is friendly.”

Martinez took up running 16 years ago to lose weight.

“I started walking, then running,” he said. Because of his running, now, “I eat whatever I want and stay in shape.”

In addition to the weekly guided running routes, there are paths of one and two miles around downtown that can be utilized by other participants, Cowan said. For example, one member who recently gave birth is working on the shorter routes as she gets back into condition for distance running.

“We have lots of regulars, a good, stable group of about 15, and, depending on what else is going on, we can have as many as 40,” Cowan said. “If it’s raining, there might only be six or seven crazy enough to run.”

And several of the runners have developed bonds that stretch beyond Run DBC, Hutchison said. Small groups of serious runners will travel together to major running events, like a recent half-marathon in Louisiana’s capital of Baton Rouge.

In Run DBC, “we run in dark, rain, cold,” etc., Hutchison said. “At Christmastime, we dress up in Christmas gear, like elf hats.”

Jim Cook is the oldest member of the running club, but he doesn’t let that dampen his enthusiasm.

“This is my 62nd year of running, and this is a nice, wonderful group of people,” Cook said. “There’s something about runners — maybe it’s because running is a mood enhancer — but the mood is always happy here.”