Last winter and the one just passed have proved less daunting for some here than in the past thanks to the presence of the Hamptons Run Club, which is overseen by Edwin Garcia of Montauk, a personal trainer in his early 40s who said during a recent conversation at The Star that he had Body Tech’s Mike Bahel to thank for his career.
“He really helped me,” Garcia said of Bahel, whose mentoring had led him to become a certified personal trainer some 15 years ago, and who had referred many clients to him during the Covid pandemic.
Not particularly athletic during his East Hampton High School days, “though I wanted to be,” Garcia began running five years ago, “when Covid hit,” with a group that included Erik Engstrom, Eric Perez, Alyssa Bahel, Paige Duca, and Jessica Tovar, serious long-distance runners all.
During the group’s periodic circuits of Fort Pond, he found that running cleared his mind and also gave him his best ideas, one of which was to form a running club here in the pandemic’s aftermath. When Courtney Hansen, who manages the Lululemon store in East Hampton Village, heard of Garcia’s ambitions, she named him Lululemon’s “running ambassador” and turned the store into the club’s hub during its Saturday morning 5K and 10K runs — the 5K to Main Beach and back, the 10K to Georgica and back.
“The running club has been a great way to bring people together again after Covid stopped everything,” Hansen said. “It’s open to all. We had 52 this past Saturday, and as many as 70 last summer. Our youngest member is 13. Chini Alarco, who’s in her 60s, beat me in the 5K the other day. If you want to walk or ride a bike, that’s fine. One very nice thing we do before we gather at Tutto Caffe for coffee and bagels and croissants, or here at the store, is wait for the last-place finisher and applaud.”
“Everybody’s welcome to do their own mileage,” Garcia said. “You can do one mile if you want. . . . The winter is long, and it’s nice to meet up with people who share your passion. We’ve been averaging 30 people this winter — it’s becoming more and more popular every week.”
Geary Gubbins, who runs the Running Ahead store on Park Place, and who said he was 100-percent behind what Garcia was doing, thinks the weekly Hamptons Run Club turnout may reach 100 this summer.
“We’ve also been doing a run in Montauk, on Tuesdays at 6:30 at Lions Field,” Garcia said. “I’ve had guests come, trainers, yoga instructors, Pilates instructors, boxers . . . Richie Daunt has always helped me out. He’ll bring 12 pairs of boxing gloves. We play games too . . . we have people put on parachutes and run up to the skate park, we play sharks and minnows — the last one tagged gets a gift certificate . . . and then we hang out at the Montauk Brewery. It’s really cool.”
Garcia, who has been injury-free since experiencing meniscus and A.C.L. tears two decades ago, said the fact that he was “very good at body mechanics” enabled him to help club members make corrections should they be required. “I see what muscles are weak and correct that. I’ve helped a number of them. Form is everything.”
A self-described average runner, Garcia has been training to do his first marathon, in Berlin, in September. “I’m running 30 miles a week now, and I want to be running 60 a week by August. I’m increasing slowly but surely. Berlin is a good first one because it’s flat, not like Boston.”
Chini Alarco, who, at 65, may be the eldest participant, said she learned about the club last spring “from Edwin’s mother, Luz. . . . I think it’s very good for the community, a very healthy thing. I lost my running partner — we used to run a half-hour to two hours on trails — and I needed to be pushed. It’s a nice group of people, a mix of old and young . . . Latinos, locals, part-timers. . . . Edwin makes it fun — he’s always changing things.”
One of the younger members, Rossana McGintee, who teaches Spanish at the Montauk School, and who ran cross-country for Diane O’Donnell at East Hampton High — “though I wasn’t great” — asked Garcia last winter to get her into shape. “Stretching, eating right . . . it all goes hand in hand. I very much appreciate his approach. He’s very patient. He’ll tell you you might not run eight-minute miles now, but it will come. He’s very comforting and motivating . . . without making you feel embarrassed. Perfect, really. . . . He’ll challenge us, and that’s good; we need that push.”
As a teacher, especially of small children, “you have to be ‘on’ all the time,” she said. “The run club is a great way to let your week out. It’s not a competition, you can run at your own pace. We help each other and celebrate our small victories. For me, it’s like a reunion — I’ve found that a number of us went to East Hampton High School, though we graduated in different years.”
Soon, the road race season will begin in earnest, starting with the Katy’s Courage 5K in Sag Harbor on April 26 and the May Day 5K at Main Beach on May 4, and it’s expected that a good number of Hamptons Run Club members will be among the participants.
Garcia said further that he’s in the process of launching a mental health counseling foundation to which donations may be made. “We’re structuring it now. A nonprofit organization that people who become depressed can use to get mental health help. The pandemic affected a lot of people in a bad way. There was no socialization. The run club provides that socialization — it’s good for your mind. . . . We’re looking to do our own race for World Mental Health Day, the day after it, on Oct. 11.”
