I’ve made mention of the Congregation once or twice in this space and thought maybe it was time for a little explanation. At it’s most basic level, the Congregation is the nickname for my running group, so named by a former mentor of mine. He named us after hearing about the long runs we would do on Sunday mornings while marathon training.

I thought the name was pretty funny considering I’m a somewhat jaded New York Jew. But it stuck and actually fits better than I think he intended it to.

More than the mere fact that we meet consistently weekend after weekend, year after year, is that when you spend hours and hours running with the same people something sort of spiritual happens. I don’t know how to explain it.

Maybe the fact that we tell each other almost everything from bad dating stories to health issues, to family craziness, to everything good in our lives is what makes it so great (I remember telling the Congregation about the anticipation of a first date with the woman who is now my wife). Of course, running, nutrition and race strategy are topics we cover ad nauseam.

I can’t explain the magic and don’t want to try, I’m just happy with the fact that it exists.

Our roots

We’ve been meeting almost every weekend at roughly the same time and place for about six years. This may change slightly depending on how far we’re running and the time of year – we meet later in the winter to let it warm up a bit and earlier in the summer if it’s going to be a brutally hot day. Also, we factor in the mileage; usually we meet early if we’re doing 18 or more miles regardless of the time of year.

I’m not a founding member of the Congregation in fact, the group formed organically before I joined.

I happened upon it when an Ex introduced me to one of her friends from law school who was running with a guy he knew from his running club. We were all training for the NYC Marathon (my second) and it made sense to start running together. We seemed to enjoy each other’s company and after training for that first long race together, we kept meeting every Sunday. It just sort of became a thing on its own.

After a while, we added some more folks (like the guy I trained with for my first marathon) and then they added some more people. Some members come every weekend while some only join us for races. It’s an ever-evolving group and there are no rules which is part of the magic. The only requirement for membership is a desire to run (and be a nice person).

That’s the key, we all love running – and each other. One of the things we most enjoy is going for coffee after a long (or short) weekend run. This ritual has become almost as important as the exercise itself. On a good morning, we can spend three or four hours running and sometimes up to two hours over coffee.

What makes us unique?

As with most running groups we come from very different backgrounds, very different skill levels and very different ages. In fact, we range from early 30’s to 60! And unlike most athletic groups with which I’ve been affiliated, these people are some of the most supportive I’ve come across. Be it a struggle to get to the end of a run, or help figuring out what to do about an ailing parent.

Being part of this group means you need to put up with a lot of email banter. It’s not uncommon for me to send out an email on a Thursday or Friday to set up the weekend run (based on where we are in the given training schedule) and have 30 emails fly back and forth throughout the day. We have this funny dialoge about who’s running what distance, where to meet and when.

See, its imperative everyone be present for coffee. If you’re not running the full distance, we need to rely on what I call “Running Calculus” to figure out how we all finish at the same time. Running Calculus is how to figure out when a running group is going to be at a given corner at a certain time so the person jumping in doesn’t have to stand out in the freezing cold too long. I’m proud to say we’ve gotten it down to a science. We know Central Park and the given pace so well that we can figure out when we will be at any point in the park almost to the minute.

So why do we do it? Are we crazy? Or addicted to endorphins (or caffeine)? I think a little from columns A, B and C.

We do almost all the local races together and have even traveled to marathons as a whole or partial group (Paris, Chicago and Newport, RI so far). Not all of us ran these races, but we all trained every weekend leading up to them to support those that were.

I don’t think I would be able to run as well, as consistently or have as much fun circumnavigating Central Park thousands of times if it wasn’t for these people.

I’m really lucky to have found them and that they let me hang out with them as much as I do.