On a warm Wednesday afternoon in July, Gladys Santiago stood in an empty parking lot in RiNo, waiting.
One by one, people arrived and gathered around her. There’s some chatter, a little bit of small talk, a few introductions.
Then Santiago’s Thick Thighs Run Club was off for a jog.
For most of the 18 runners, the evening was filled with a lot of firsts. The first time meeting each other. The first time joining any sort of run club. And for many, their first time putting on running shoes in years.
For Kali Bechtold, a first-time Thick Thighs runner, joining the group is a way to get back into running after having two kids.
“I think that it's hard and intimidating to go to a place in a community and be like, it's fine if I just show up the way I am and there's no judgment, or expectations, or competition,” said the mom of two. “It seems like the perfect group to start in a no-judgment zone and meet new people too.”
That same sentiment was shared by many others.
“I feel like in Colorado there's not a lot of inclusive running groups, so this allows for different levels of different runners,” said Layla Ramos, another first-time Thick Thighs runner. “And I'm not a fast runner, so I was really excited to join this group … It can be really intimidating going to some of these [run clubs], some of them are called ‘endurance run groups’ and I'm like, that's not for me.”
