Black-Founded Houston Club with Hundreds of Runners to Mark 8th Year This Juneteenth Week

A Black-founded run club with hundreds of participants each week will celebrate its eighth anniversary this Juneteenth in Houston.

Every Saturday at 8 a.m., while most Houstonians may be snoozing their alarms, East Downtown is filled with groovy tunes, chants and footsteps from runners logging miles and enjoying line dances.

Juneteenth at Emancipation Park

Kelvon Yancy said he founded ZFT Run Club Houston, also known as Zone Fitness Training, around the time of the 2017 Juneteenth celebration at Emancipation Park. He said his vision was to promote fitness, health and community for African Americans involved in distance running, where he saw a void for his community at the time.

He’d been involved in a run club in Atlanta, but was unable to find one when he relocated to Houston. As he searched, a coworker suggested he start his own.

“I think I set on it for maybe a month and then I took action,” Yancy said. He said starting the club the same week as Juneteenth was deliberate.

“I thought it was perfect timing where we can make it very cultural and centered around us using that date to spark everything.”

Yancy said to him the holiday means freedom and liberation, and ZFT Run Club is a direct reflection of that feeling.

Initially, a handful of five to eight friends participated in the run club at Emancipation Park. As of June, the club monthly newsletter, which started two years ago, has more than 5,500 subscribers.

Where to find ZFT

ZFT offers two free weekly runs: On Wednesday, the club hosts a social run at 6 p.m. at Hermann Park and on Saturday, a hallmark run kicks off at 8 a.m. in East Downtown near Leeland House restaurant.

Yancy said this is an inclusive running club that also encourages walkers to join, and said the club helps runners train to participate in racing events.

“No matter what day, no matter what run you pull up to, what you can expect is a really good time and what I tell people is ZFT is an experience,” said Yancy. “You’re going to find first, community and then second, you’re going to find that running can actually be fun.”

Partying into the finish line

Before runs, participants are usually seen bonding over dances, ice breakers and introductions. Vice run captain Joshua Grimes said aside from running, he makes it a personal challenge bring to energy and laughter to the group.

“Maybe it will have them feel more comfortable to want to stick around and maybe challenge themselves a little more,” Grimes said. “The energy is one of our selling tickets.”

Grimes, who joined in 2017, said he was inconsistent with running at the time and wasn’t sure what would come of it. He said looking back at the club’s growth, he thinks it has been amazing.

Building community

Friends and ZFT runners Ronnie Thomas, Bianca Murrell and Shabri Worthy initially met at church. The trio decided to join the club to be more active, build community and meet friends.

Thomas is a new resident to Eado and was searching for a reason to get out the house when she came across the run club.

The three friends said they are happy the club was founded around Juneteenth.

“I’m happy that we are being celebrated in any capacity, I’m happy that we get an opportunity to come together and I’m grateful that this was something that started in remembrance of that.” said Thomas.

ZFT Houston also has a sister run club, ZFT Dallas, that was founded in 2020 by a former ZFT Houston member. Both chapters participate in running events across Texas and worldwide.

ZFT Houston is set to mark its eighth 5k and celebration on June 21 at 7 a.m. New runners and walkers are welcome to join.