San Francisco's Marina neighborhood fills a void the bars can't

SAN FRANCISCO - At 6:50 a.m. on Thursday along San Francisco's Marina Green, the thick fog is slowly giving way to a rising sun, the sound of cars zipping by not yet filling the air; instead, pounding running shoes and deep, gasping breaths is all you hear.

Runners in the area are flocking to a Philz Coffee truck parked along Marina Green, but not to get a dose of early morning caffeine. 

The group of roughly 150 people is gathering for the Marina Run Club. 

On Thursday, when KTVU joined the growing club, they were set to run three miles, making their way past Fort Mason and then Aquatic Park before turning around at In N Out and ending back where they started, where many did finally get a morning coffee. 

The club was founded by Sarah Tobin two years ago. 

Tobin, an avid runner and like many in San Francisco, works from home and was craving a real, in-person connection. 

So she started the Marina Run Club. 

"I put up some flyers around town, started an Instagram and asked some people to come up for a run with me," Tobin said. 

On the first run, four people showed up. 

"When they arrived, I said ‘Welcome to the Marina Run Club, we meet three times a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,’" Tobin said. " I committed to it being a thing."

Christopher Moloney, who KTVU met at the run Thursday, was also one of the few there for the first run. 

He's not surprised that the club has grown to over 6,000 members. 

"The first day it was four, the second week it was 10, and then 15 for a while, then it was 50," Moloney recalled. "I just think people realized it was fun and not too intense."

The Marina Run Club, now a registered LLC, hosts more than five runs weekly, but that just scratches the surface. 

The club has partnered with everyone from Nike to Equinox and raised tens of thousands of dollars running for charity. 

So, why has Tobin's club become such a hit?

A majority of runners are in their 20s and 30s, a demographic whose lives have been shaped by Zoom calls and remote work. Tobin was far from the only one craving connection.

And in San Francisco's Marina neighborhood, that connection is often only found at bars along Union or Chestnut Streets. 

Sydney Swofford, a Seattle native, moved to San Francisco for a remote job. She wanted to meet like-minded people.

"Making friends as an adult is really hard, especially if you're not going into the office," Swofford said.

The Marina Run Club has filled that void. 

Swofford told KTVU she has met over 30 friends through the Marina Run Club. 

Club members don't just run together: they've taken weekend trips to Tahoe together, trained and run marathons together, and celebrated birthdays and holidays together. 

"Some of my closest friends in the city are now from the run club," Tobin said.