The Phoenix Brings Its Sober Running Community to the DMV
Running and sobriety often go hand-in-hand, sometimes because it is an active choice and sometimes it is an accident. For some runners, dedicating themselves to race training or joining a run club forces them to make a decision about how they spend their Friday night, and that can be the first step in a long journey. For others, recognizing and tackling addiction leads them to find a sport or activity that allows them to build an accountable community that helps them take the leap.
The Phoenix has been working at that intersection for almost twenty years. Scott Strode started the organization in Denver in 2006, building it around a simple premise: building community, whether it is centered around group runs or group knitting, gives people in recovery something to belong to. The group is now in all fifty states and has reached more than a million people.
This spring, it arrived in the DMV with a group run along the C&O Canal Towpath.
Don Laub, a local volunteer with the group, told me the idea for bringing the group to the region came from a drive to make a positive impact on the community through running and activity, something he and others in the group love.
“We saw the transformational effects of The Phoenix run clubs and other classes in other areas and said ‘this is how we can make a difference.’ The inaugural event—a May 30th run—is the first in a series of bi-weekly runs at the C&O Towpath. Hopefully, we’ll have regular runs throughout the DMV.”
The DMV chapter was kickstarted when Laub met Clay Broga at a DC screening of SOBER, a feature-length documentary produced by Broga “that follows a group of people who have risen from the ashes of addiction in Los Angeles.”
For runners interested in joining one of the group runs organized by The Phoenix, being in recovery is not a requirement. According to Matt Naugle, a longtime supporter of the organization’s work and a group member, “The Phoenix welcomes anyone: people in recovery, the ‘sober curious,’ allies, and supportive friends. The community itself is what drives the outcomes. Four in five active members stay sober.”
The only requirement: participants must have achieved 48 hours of continuous sobriety.
Laub added that the key takeaway for runners thinking of joining is that they will have a community that understands. “For those who are new to or considering recovery, they should know that they’ll have a solid group of people who have experienced what they’re going through and with whom they can enjoy activities like this and build a sober life.”
Group runs are not the only programming central to the organization’s recovery model. “There has been a knitting group in Boise, and music plays a growing role in The Phoenix community,” Laub told The Capital Runner. “But, physical activity together as a group seems to be a great way to build community. You see self-esteem grow as people get more active in the community. There are already a number of other activities in the DMV: climbing in Montgomery County and Alexandria, CrossFit.”
Nationally, The Phoenix’s programming has served more than one million people through tens of thousands of volunteer-led events. You can find local and virtual events at ThePhoenix.org.
The next group run will take place on Saturday, June 13 at 8:00 a.m. in the parking lot across from Old Anglers Inn (10801 MacArthur Blvd).
