A. Logout Run Club
1. What inspired you and your co-founders to launch Logout Club, and how has the club grown from small Sunday runs to events drawing number of participants?
This is Jay, Founder of Logout Club, I used to run by myself and when i moved to the city i wanted to meet more people like me who’d like to hangout and jam over an activity like running. So on a whim on a wednesday we created the instagram page and 9th March last year was our first run. We had 14 people. 4-5 were people I knew but the rest were all new faces. The second run had about 19 people and that proved that there were people like me who needed spaces like Logout. Then it’s been us consistently running Sunday by Sunday and probably that’s what has led to us growing.
2. As a social run club rather than a competitive group, how does logout club build community among diverse members like software engineers, students, and homemakers in Hyderabad?
We don’t really look at the profession. The agenda is to get people out of their homes, away from the screens and keep hosting experiences that enable that.
3. What challenges have you faced scaling logout club amid Hyderabad’s sedentary lifestyle trends, and what’s your vision for making it a larger movement?
Honestly, that stereotype has been broken for us. I believe a space like” logout is what was missing for people to step out but it is not like people dont want to. Otherwise logout wouldn’t be hosting 70-80 people if not more every sunday. People want to step out, it’s just a space that makes it easier for them that is missing. The larger goal is to push our propaganda of logging out. We keep saying that we want to be touching grass more often – and we keep wondering how going to a park or stepping out, outside of the usual plans, has become a novelty. Why are we not just casually venturing out in places like parks etc. So that is our larger vision – to get people away from the screens, outside their homes.
- How do “run plus” innovations like coffee raves or matcha chats reflect the evolving culture of Hyderabad’s run clubs, turning fitness into social, joyful experiences?
While we are not really big on raves but the bigger picture here is we are moving to the idea of fourth space. We had third spaces like cafes but a fourth space comes with an added layer of experience. Which is where a rave after a run or matcha workshops come into the picture. That experience makes it easier for people to find common themes that they enjoy which makes it easier to find your tribe.
