Never Miss a Monday: The Birth of a Hashtag

By Coach Grant Fletcher

It started on a Monday night in January 2017.

A group of runners from the same team gathered after one of them said “we should meet on Monday and Thursday nights to do our homework runs together." We were all so new at this that the first documented photo doesn’t even show who was there (see image below). They were part of the Kerminators…Tammy, Grant, Monica, Claire, Gretchen, Maryclair.

As the days got longer, we would have others join us but for the most part, there were just a few of us… a core group.

We had learned that one of the most important workouts during the week was the Monday run after a long run on Sunday. We would meet at Onondaga Lake Park near the Wegmans playground. Typically, we ran 4 miles because that was what the training schedule said we should do.

After a while, boredom set in. Where could we run that is different? We moved our Monday runs to the West Shore Trail for the summer for extra shade and cooler temps.

To attract more runners we would post on the FFSYR Distance Training Program Facebook page. But as the year came to a close it was still the same few.

As a new training season would begin, we would recruit graduates from the No Boundaries program. With these new faces, our group started to grow. It was always Wegmans Playground or West Shore Trail.

In November we would have to move off the parkway to the Village of Liverpool because of Lights on the Lake. This worked out well because runners liked grabbing coffee in the village so new people started to join us.

Now three years into these weekly, organized homework runs on Mondays and Thursdays, and suddenly people are excited about running together. That is when it happened, the weekly post to invite others to join us with a simple call to action, “never miss a Monday."

It took the accountability we had experienced and got others to realize that running on a Monday was a good and fun routine! The numbers continued to grow. Six or seven runners soon grew to double digits. As runners added events to their calendars, they wanted to be part of this group. We ran local events. We traveled together. We knew what was going on in each of our lives. Grandbabies. Work challenges. There were no topics that were not talked about.

Today the tradition continues. If you are looking for new people to run with, just look for the hashtag. #NMAM.

All paces are welcome. You don’t have to just run with us to experience #NMAM. Any workout on a Monday is a good thing. Fleet Feet Cross Training (FFXT). A spin class. Yoga.

Use Monday as the day to recover and set yourself up for success during the week since #runningisnotcancelled.

Fleet Feet Running Club, Syracuse Training Programs currently open:

• Fleet Feet Cross-Training (FFXT) - A weekly strength and conditioning workout to make you stronger, leaner, and add diversity to your training. Next FFXT training session starts April 12th 2021.
• Monday Night Free Runs - Join us for a free and easy, 3-6 mile run from the E. Syracuse store every Monday in March & April.