Friendship, support and coffee. Oh, and a bit of running, too! The well-known Run For Coffee ladies-only running collective, which landed in Ballito just a few months ago, already has more than 60 members.
“We all have our own businesses and side-hustles, and we are all really busy, but we want to keep fit, too,” says co-founder of the North Coast Run For Coffee club, Candice Jenkinson.
Candice is the owner of FLOW – a yoga, pilates and dance studio based in Umhlali. She and yoga and wellness coach Rochelle Blomeyer started the local Run For Coffee club in January this year.
The national Run For Coffee concept was launched in Cape Town by two girlfriends who would go for runs together, and then ‘reward’ themselves with a cup of coffee and chat afterwards.
Now there are clubs all around South Africa (and even overseas), and the North Coast club is growing daily. “This is a group for women who are either just starting their running journey, or those who have not found their own running club yet. You really can come as you are, at any fitness level, and we’ll figure it out,” says Candice, who is the self-proclaimed captain of the walk/jog (or wog) team.
She and Rochelle decided to get the club going as a way to grow the yoga studio and network with other women, but it has already become much more than that, she says.
“It is like a sisterhood where we can come together and exercise, but also make friends and support each other. And drink coffee of course.”
Having started out in January with just six members and now a group of more than 60, Candice believes the club’s popularity is largely due to the high number of female-owned small businesses in the area.
“When you have your own small business you really need to make time for yourself and it can feel quite lonely. We are a running group, but we are also a kind of networking group, so we all promote and support each other’s businesses as well.”
There is no membership fee and the group meets once a week on a Thursday morning at 5.45am. “We started meeting at Bench Coffee in Salt Rock, but we’ve grown quite a bit and have had to move to Beach Wood boutique hotel in Ballito. We love supporting and collaborating with local coffee shops. We are also looking at bumping our runs up to twice a week,” says Candice, “but we’ll likely wait for summer to do that.”
Every week there is a 3km, 5km and 8km run and you can decide which one you’d like to do, and whether you’d like to walk, run or jog (or wog) it. Afterwards, the ladies usually have a quick ocean swim, followed by a cup of coffee.
“If you wake up and decide you don’t feel like the run that day but just want to come for the coffee and chat, that is okay too,” says Candice, who is passionate about seeing women reach their goals and do things they never thought they could.
“We recently participated in the North Coast Challenger trail run at Holla Trails as a group, and it was great to see women who started out as ‘non-runners’ finishing the race and smashing their own goals.”
The best part about Run For Coffee, Candice says, is that all the women who come together are so completely different. “Many of us would probably never have met each other if it weren’t for this group. We are all so diverse and different. As business owners though, we often have similar concerns and challenges and it’s just so great to be able to talk freely and bounce ideas off of each other. It’s so lovely to be able to come together and be vulnerable in this fun, organic and truly altruistic environment.
“Running, like starting your own business, is one of the greatest ways to see the true strength of the human spirit. You learn just how strong your mind really is – and this way you can do it with a village supporting you.”
Anyone wanting to join the group (or coffee shops that would like the club to pay them a visit) can contact Candice or Rochelle via their social media platforms.
Details: @rochelle_jane_wellness, @flow_the_studio, @runforcoffeesa
Text: Leah Shone
