At 9:30 p.m. on the Wednesday before the Philadelphia Marathon, runners in neon jackets and reflective tights gather in Center City Philadelphia. Even though it’s raining, nearly 100 people show up. Some wear T-shirts from various Philly-based clubs, such as 11th Hour Racing, Team Humane League, and Fishtown Beer Runners.

At the front of the crowd, Jon Lyons, 30, hands out glow sticks. “Welcome to Night Shift,” he says. “We’re going to run twoish miles. We’ll stop at Washington Square Park for tricep dips, run stairs in the subway, and then finish by the Love sign. Let’s go!”

human race come together run215 running group philadelphia love statue
Chris Sembrot
The #NightShiftPHL crew pauses at the end of mile two to dance by Philly’s Love sculpture.

Lyons is the founder of Run215, a club named after the city’s area code that acts as an overarching resource for all of Philadelphia’s run crews. Since its inception in 2014, the club has hosted events to bring together various running groups and to make it easier for Philly runners to share information about local fitness events.

“When I started running, I was sick of going out alone but didn’t know where to look to find someone to run with,” says Lyons, a sales and marketing associate. “So I decided to make a Facebook group in March 2014 to see if anyone wanted to join me.”

Less than two weeks after creating the page, the group hit 300 members. As more group runs were scheduled, the numbers on Facebook continued to rise, reaching 1,500 people within one year.

What Lyons noticed—and embraced—was that the conversation on Facebook was not just about where and when he was hosting workouts. There were also posts about what other clubs were doing. “Run215 became the page to display all the clubs’ schedules,” he says. “I don’t think anyone had established an effective platform for other running clubs to interact freely and easily—I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. I think it broke down the borders between clubs.”

human race come together run215 running group philadelphia center city
Chris Sembrot
Lyons leads the run through the city’s downtown.

Lyons created a standalone website where Philadelphia runners could get up-to-date information about local races and group runs. What started as a gathering of friends has grown to be a citywide resource, with more than 8,000 Facebook followers and 35,000 monthly page visits on the Run215 site.

“I never wanted to be authoritative,” says Lyons. “Run215 became a platform for many different groups, and that’s the only role I wanted us to play.”

With the digital presence gathering steam, Lyons decided to host an in-person event. So he and his running pal Suzanne Allaire (cofounder of November Project Philly and associate marketing manager at Runner’s World) created #NightShiftPHL, a pop-up, late-night, party run. The event is announced through a swarm of social media posts, giving Run215 followers 24 hours’ notice and a place to meet. Lyons makes it clear that it’s BYO headlamp, but he does provide glow sticks and music (from a giant speaker towed by bike). So far, it’s happened six times since 2015 and typically attracts anywhere from 100 to 200 runners.

The success of #NightshiftPHL inspired other events that Lyons says are aimed to keep the city fit. In between all the fun, run215 has been lobbying officials to establish more pedestrian safety laws.

“When I realized how much running could impact my life, I wanted to do that for the rest of the city,” Lyons says. “It was surprisingly simple to bring different crews together. There are no running rivalries in Philadelphia—instead, run215 members have a lot of running friends.”

Lettermark
Ali Nolan
Freelancer Writer
Ali Nolan is the former features editor for Runner's World and the author of Master the Marathon.