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Running club

As president of Ohio State’s Track, XC and Running Club, Matt Polatas sees the big picture of what student organizations offer: community and common interests.

That’s why the goals of the club have always been simple — make friends and stay in shape. Even in a year with COVID-19 guidelines in place, the Running Club has found ways to hit both goals.

“We’ve tried to replicate our normal year as much as possible because so many students depend on an outlet for friendship and a break from school or the stress of the world,” said Polatas, a senior chemical engineering major. “We’ve especially tried to keep the perspective of someone new to Ohio State, away from home, trying to find a friend group. That’s so important to find.”

Ohio State’s Running Club attracts everyone from casual runners to competitive athletes. In typical years, the club competes in meets with other running clubs from large universities or Division II and III teams, offering a cross country season in the fall, indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring.

The club’s team captains organize training plans based on long, middle and short distances.

While the team competitions are cancelled this year, the Running Club still spreads the word about virtual races and competitions and is organizing time trials for those interested.

And although those typical meets aren’t happening this semester, the club has continued to meet five days a week for workouts in groups of five to 10 runners, based on what distances and paces runners want to focus on. Runners wear masks while stretching, warming up and during breaks. The smaller groups allow runners to maintain social distancing while running.

“We’ve had to get creative so we can still get together for our daily runs, but we’ve also tried to do more on the social side this year,” Polatas said. “We’ve had virtual events where we’ve met up through Zoom. We've had game nights and daily sessions where we did core exercises because we couldn’t meet up and run in person [early in the school year]. Those were good ways for everybody to just talk to everybody else in the club and make new friends and see new faces.”

 

 


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