It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 2 years since I founded Sweat & Salty Run Club in Jamaica, and for me, even more incredible to see the massive, beautiful worldwide community that it has become in that timespan too.

Before I started Sweat & Salty, I had experienced running in many different forms both at home and in the United States - from leading track & field distance workouts at my University’s track club to running with massive crowds at Brickell Run Club in Miami, to joining a community of runners with Coconut Grove Run Club, then to running my first marathon in Miami in 2024 backed by the first run club I was a part of - Pacers Running Club.

When I moved back to Jamaica in December of 2024, it felt like the perfect time to amalgamate my experiences and forge a new type of running community that Jamaica hadn’t seen before. One that appealed to ambitious young people and one that was ambitious in its mission to build community through running. Run clubs weren’t a new thing to Jamaica, but what SSRC brought to the island was a new kind of run club - one with a soul defined by connecting people - and more so one that was built to welcome people to wellness and healthy habits such as running.

Sweat & Salty has done one thing better than every other run club in Jamaica: brand building - giving our members and runners a community and brand that they can identify with and be proud to be a part of. Throughout the fitness and running community in Jamaica, our run club has carved out a niche for ourselves as the”new kid on the block” that’s taking road running in Jamaica and making it something “trendy”.

Sometimes, we might think of lowly of “trendy” things and not want to “follow the herd” per se, but for me, more people posting their Strava logs on their story and making reels about their runs or being excited about a medal from a race is exactly where I love to see the sport going. “Fitness and wellness trendy” is the best kind of trendy we’re going to get. People moving their bodies and challenging themselves to do something hard is a trend that I’ll always get behind.

In our almost 2 years of existence, Sweat & Salty has had an outsized impact on the running scene in Jamaica, and has inspired the creation of many other run clubs not only in Kingston but across the island.

And this is wholly the point. This is why Sweat & Salty exists.

Competition is healthy and more run clubs (and fitness communities in general) across Kingston and the wider island forces Sweat & Salty to be better. But more than that, it shows us that as a concept, Sweat & Salty has been successful in its mission thus far. We’ve been able to inspire, to lead, to create an atmosphere of positivity towards casual community road running that didn’t exist in its current form in Jamaica prior to our run club being founded. That is the exact kind of work that I set out to do when I began laying the foundation of the run club.

I cannot lead every run, nor can I be in every community - but what I can do as the founder and president of Jamaica’s fastest growing run club is to inspire - to inspire those around me who can to lead to create their own communities, so that the entire culture across the island shifts towards a positive attitude towards running. So everyone, everywhere, thinks - “yes, I can do it too”.

In September, I launched an islandwide campaign called Sweat Across Jamaica to carry the run club across the island. The idea was simple - bring community running to communities across Jamaica to show them what a run club looks like.

Most people have never been to a run club before. Their idea of a 5K is a race with thousands of people, crowd barriers, post-race awards ceremonies and corporate sponsorship. In Jamaica this is the standard - companies and charities use 5Ks to raise money for specific causes, and throughout a given year the only interaction with the running community most people in this country will have is when they give a donation and go for a run with a crowd for the cause.

This is inherently a good thing - don’t get me wrong - running for a cause is one of the best reasons to run.

But that being the only touchpoint with running on our roads that people have is a problem.

The idea behind Sweat Across Jamaica is to promote road running, run club running - community running. It’s to show people that you don’t need a fully baked 5K race to get outside and go and run. You just need a pair of running shoes and a dream.

If you’re a runner reading this, you’re probably thinking to yourself - “well duh?”

But trust me, you would be surprised how foreign that concept is to so many people. The concept of opening your door and just running somewhere, then running back is not a “normal” thing, and our mission with this campaign is to normalize it.

So far, we’ve hosted a run in Kingston, Portmore, Ocho Rios and Mandeville and each of them have had over 100 runners sign up, with turnouts exceeding our expectations when we set out to go across the island.

Portmore is near to Kingston, so we had a lot of run club regulars but also drew a crowd of regular runners who would usually commute to Kingston for runs. Ocho Rios is a bit further, and while we did see persons drive from Kingston for the run, that’s where we began to see the real community locals come out to run with us. That’s where I began to feel this sense of “Oh my God, we’re actually doing this. This is actually happening”.

Then, in Mandeville - well over 100 people joined us in the heart of Jamaica - and one of the most frequent comments I got from participants was “Hey, this was my first ever 5K”. Scores of locals from Mandeville joined us and I was truly impressed by the turnout, but more so I was impressed by the enthusiasm and gratitude that participants had for us bringing something like this to their community. Another frequent comment that I got was “So when’s the next one?”

As a run club president, those words are literal music to my ears. Literal gold. The “raison d’etre” if you will.

To be able to draw people out of their beds at 5:45AM to run their first 5K in their very own community is a sentiment that brings me an incredible feeling of emotion. It’s hard to describe. It’s one thing to see them drive to Kingston for a corporate 5K and say it was their first 5K.

But for us to bring our run club to their community, warm up with them, smile and high five each other along the route and end with a group cool down and coffee at a local cafe afterwards - that’s showing them that running is more than just the big corporate and charity races.

It’s showing them that running is casual.

It’s showing them that you can get up, drive and park by your local cafe and run, then grab breakfast there afterwards. It’s showing them that running is not just an event, but a lifestyle.

And don’t even get me started on the fact that we did our best to make sure that everyone met someone new that day too! It’s showing them that running is community.

I don’t think you truly will understand the gravity of my emotion behind hearing that statement. The reality for many people is that their introduction to and only foray into the world of running is an organized charity or corporate 5K. One that gives you a bib to pick up before the race, a T-shirt to wear during, and a shiny themed medal afterwards.

So to be able to introduce people to running in the way that we are doing across Jamaica is an incredible blessing that is not lost on me and that I hold so dearly to my heart.

That is the point of Sweat Across Jamaica. That is the point, in truth, of Sweat & Salty Run Club.

Running for me started as a hobby, and purposefully I have not competed or trained intensively or made it anything more than a hobby. It has remained something that feels good and brings good to me. It is something that “I get to do” rather than something that “I have to do”. Gratitude.

Sweat & Salty Run Club is an extension of that aspect of my life that I wanted to share with the world and especially with my home country. It is a community where I get to see runners grow. Where I get to see people that I can now call my friends go from never running a 5K before to running their first half-marathon. It is a place where people can find the truest form of community because its very soul is community.

Sweat Across Jamaica is an extension of that soul to the rest of the island. In many ways, it is a “maiden voyage” if a run club were to ever have one. It is a test not only of the strength of our brand across the island, but an experiment of convincing people in communities vastly different from my own to come out and try “this running thing” out.

Bringing a run club outside of its home community is an extremely audacious thing to do. This is not a truth that is lost upon me. The people don’t know us, all they have is social media really to make a decision as to whether or not they should show up to Sweat Across Jamaica in their community.

Yet, they still show up. And they show they hell up.

So half-way through Sweat Across Jamaica, I think we’re doing something right. We’re learning as we go along on this journey and getting better with each run, but we’ve already touched the lives of hundreds of people across the island and we’re only halfway through the campaign.

I’m so excited to bring Sweat Across Jamaica to Negril next weekend on October 25, then to Treasure Beach on November 7, Montego Bay on November 22 and back to Kingston on November 28.

The work we’re doing is meaningful. The work we’re doing is worth it. We’re changing the very wellness and fitness culture of our island. And that, my friends, is my why. 🇯🇲

So I’ll see you at the next 5K 😉 Buy some merch to support.

Until next time,
JLOWE.

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