It was a sweltering 86 degrees at Boston City Hall Plaza on a recent Wednesday evening, but more than 100 people dressed in black shirts, shorts, and neon running shoes were buzzing with energy, undeterred by the humidity clinging to their clothes.
“Before we run ... what’s your favorite type of cheese?” Laura Zavrl, cofounder of Lunge Dating App’s Singles Run Club in Boston, asked the crowd.
It was just the right icebreaker to ease the nervous energy of the eager 20- and 30-somethings who quickly turned to the person next to them and chatted away.
“Gouda,” one participant said, to which another responded, “Ohhh, Swiss.”
The pandemic and increasing reliance on social media have left many young people in Boston craving more third spaces, locations beyond work and home where they can meet new people, romantically or as friends, and share a common interest. Lunge’s Singles Run Club fits the mold.
The more than 100 Gen Z and Millennials who have met up every Wednesday at 6:45 p.m. for the past 13 weeks, for either a 3-mile run or 1.5-mile hot walk, are eager to connect face-to-face with people who live in their city as an escape from scrolling on social media or dating apps.
“Dating in 2025 is joining a run club, and I’m willing to try anything at this point,” said Leeza Smith, 30, who lives in East Boston and works in marketing operations. “Except for being on Hinge.”
“Swipe-free summer,” added her friend Elsa Schenck, 26, who works in finance. “We’re trying to talk to people in person.”
The run club started in May 2024 in New York City. Founded by Steve Cole, who also created the Lunge Dating App, the club continues to draw hundreds of people, with one run reaching 1,400, Cole said. Cole receives at least one text a week about a new couple who met through the club.
When the run club, which is now in five Northeast cities, started expanding, Philip Myers, a cofounder with Zavrl, jumped on the opportunity to start one in Boston.
“We’ll give it a whirl,” he recalled thinking, “and through the power of social media, here we are,” Myers said. “People want to meet new people in the city.”
Some weeks, nearly 300 people tie up their running shoes to maneuver through crowded Boston streets and run along the scenic Charles River Esplanade, Myers said. While most runners are single, the unattached wear black shirts to avoid any confusion. The club already has two success stories — couples who started in black but now wear colors.
The reward for the run?
A cold pint of Guinness at the Dubliner. At least to start.
Chris Nelson, 27, wore a yellow bucket hat with a duck beak outside of City Hall before the run. He moved to Dorchester last year to work for the city’s fire department.
The run club is “a way to talk to” women that’s better than the online dating scene, he said.
Nearby, Jess Keenan, who lives in the North End, and Elise Wu, of Acton, both 23 and working at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, were preparing for their first 3-mile run with the club. Wu was already looking ahead to the idea of a “meet cute.”
What better way to introduce your partner to new people, she thought, than to say you serendipitously met at a run club.
Wearing Beats headphones around her neck and a silver necklace with a large heart pendant, Valencia Vixama, a fashion stylist from Quincy, said she’s “dipping [her] toe” back into the dating pool after two years, and the run club inspired her.
“I’ve been very nervous, but this is the kick that I needed,” Vixama, 27, said. “I might see an ick or two depending on how they run, but we’ll see.”
As the group split up into two around 7 p.m., Zavrl led the runners down Cambridge Street to the river.
“It’s going well so far,” said Olivia Picca, 22, who met Tom Magee, 28, five minutes before as the run began. Magee, who lives in Somerville, smiled next to her.
“He seems to be running really well,” Picca, who lives in downtown Boston, said.
Both Picca and Magee blushed. They ran the full 3 miles together.
Ahead, sisters Maryjane Elwood, 25, and Laura Elwood, 23, were joining the group for the first time. Running side by side, they explained they both went to the same college, both live in South Boston, both are nurses, and “are both looking for boyfriends,” Maryjane Elwood said, laughing.
“It’s so bad that we’re out here running for a dating scene,” she said. Both sisters agreed the Boston dating scene is not for the faint of heart.
Behind them, Vaisakh Srinivas, 37, who lives in Acton, and Graham Codd, 24, from Cambridge, took a break to catch their breath.
“People have been looking for community,” Codd said. Srinivas, who met Codd just minutes before, agreed.
As the runners looped back to the Dubliner for drinks, Neil and Micaela Guiney, both 29, finished their run at 7:35 p.m. Some of the few people not in black, the married couple, who immigrated from South Africa last month, wore white and blue.
“I was desperately looking for a running community,” Micaela said. “And I found this place,” looking toward the group outside the Dubliner.
Around 8:15 p.m., after a long line to enter the Irish pub, Allan Velasco jumped on the opportunity to dunk his head at a SweatHouz cold plunge station set up outside the Dubliner. The club partners with different brands like SweatHouz, a contrast therapy studio with multiple locations in Massachusetts.
“Keep breathing,” the SweatHouz employee told Velasco as he exhaled rapidly in the about 45-degree water.
“Let’s go,” said Velasco, 29, with a fist pump, embracing the pain. Originally from Ecuador, Velasco has lived in Boston for three years and enjoys the club for “that first sip of beer” after the run and because “Bostonian girls are cool,” he said.
The runners packed the pub, filling the room with lively chatter and not bothering to change clothes or put on layers. As they talked, they gulped down cups of water and thirst-quenching beers.
Vixama held her pink handheld fan inside the Dubliner.
“I met him,” she said, smiling at a man who walked by.
Jackie Champoux, 25, who lives in Beacon Hill, met her boyfriend at the club on May 21. The pair recently spent a weekend on Cape Cod with Champoux’s family, she said.
“We just hit it off,” she said. “I feel so lucky.”
The couple will soon celebrate two months together. They leave their black gear at home in lieu of bright colors.
Ava Berger can be reached at ava.berger@globe.com. Follow her @Ava_Berger_.