When Michelle Welling moved to London from California 10 years ago, she joined a running club to make new friends. Midnight Runners centred around the social aspect of running rather than personal bests and competition, and it was while getting after-run drinks one time that a fellow runner asked her about the knee support she was wearing. It turned out they both had the same injury.
Seven years on, Welling and Lorenzo Aversa, both 31, have been on running trips all over the world, from the Faroe Islands to Cape Town . The couple have just bought their first home together, and in October they’re doing an Ultra Trail in Cappadocia, Turkey . “I’m sure we would never have crossed paths if not for this mutual hobby of ours.
I was a student at the time and he was a consultant, originally from Italy. We didn’t have any shared friends,” says Welling, who works in marketing for M&S. The couple still run with the same club - although it’s a bit bigger now, with outposts in 19 cities worldwide, including Tokyo , Barcelona , Sydney and Bogota .
“Everyone and their sister and neighbour seems to be running these days,” she laughs. Britain in particular has seized the baton. A record 840,000 people applied for the London Marathon this year.
Places for the Hackney Half Marathon (the largest half-marathon in the UK) for 2025 sold out last Sunday, just two weeks after going on sale. On TikTok , the #RunTok hashtag has had over 3.4 billion views.
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