Happy b-day, Hollywood Run Club.
Credit: @rhhag
Hollywood Run Club is marking 13 years of miles, friendships and serious local momentum with a birthday bash swapping typical finish-line fun for indoor golf.
The club will kick off its 14th year with Pace & Par on Thursday, August 6, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Tee Box inside Atlantic Village in Hallandale Beach. Attendees will meet at 6 p.m., head out on a three-mile social run toward the ocean at 6:30 p.m. and return for TrackMan golf simulators, interactive games, raffles and complimentary light bites. Golf skills are optional, and runners and walkers of every pace are welcome.
Current Hollywood Run Club president Chelsi Molina discovered the club in 2023 while searching for friends and a new community in South Florida. Roughly six months later, the club’s founder announced he was moving and asked Molina to take charge.
“I love the community. I love where we run. I love what we do. And I love connecting with people here,” Molina told Browardist.
Since taking the helm, Molina has refreshed the club’s branding, expanded its social media presence and added outings that bring runners directly to Hollywood-area restaurants and businesses. Hollywood Run Club now gathers Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sunday mornings, with Thursday routes rotating among local venues.
Its signature Tuesday run at Charnow Park once attracted seven people when Molina started, she says. Today, it typically draws between 50 and 60 runners. The club has also grown from fewer than 1,000 social media followers to nearly 4,200, surpassed 800 followers on Strava and reached more than 300 active members on Heylo.
The platform helps members coordinate race training and find running buddies for punishingly early South Florida long runs. “It’s really about people getting out, connecting with people in their community,” Molina said.
Molina has also pushed the group deeper into charitable work. Hollywood Run Club has supported Voices for Children and runners raising money through major marathons. Its Pace with Pups event brings members to Broward County Animal Care, where they walk or run with shelter dogs through the Broward Buddies program and help introduce adoptable pups to new audiences.
“It’s not about your pace. It’s not about your age. It’s not about where you are and your experience with running,” Molina said.
Next up, the club is eyeing Flanigan’s Rockin’ Rib Run, the Life Time Miami Marathon, the Fort Lauderdale A1A races and Tampa’s 50th Gasparilla Distance Classic weekend. First comes some birthday putting around at Atlantic Village, though.
