We Fell in Love at a Running Club
Tired of the endless swiping and superficiality of dating apps, Canadians are gravitating toward mixers, face-to-face speed-dating events and even common-interest groups in their search for love. Among them are Katy Dmowski, a medical student at the University of Calgary, and Evelyn Poole, a McGill University grad student, who met at OUTrun, a queer running club in Montreal. They have been dating since December of 2022 and recently went long-distance. Here, Dmowski and Poole share their experiences with online dating—and how connecting through a running group made all the difference.
Evelyn Poole: I joined dating apps when I turned 18—first Tinder, then Bumble and Her for the next four years. I used them for months at a time, deleting them whenever I got in to a relationship. I wasn’t surrounded by a lot of queer folks in my hometown of Ottawa, nor at Queen’s in Kingston, Ontario, where I went for postsecondary, so online dating became my gateway to the community. In the end, I had two relationships come out of these apps.
Katy Dmowski: I was on and off Tinder, Hinge and Bumble over the course of six years, but I only ended up going on two dates, both of which came from Tinder. The effort it took to keep conversations going on these apps was exhausting and, more often than not, led nowhere. One time, I matched with a guy on Tinder, and we were both excited to meet up. But when it came down to nailing down a date and time, our schedules just didn’t align. We had a lot of back and forth on the logistics until the whole thing eventually fizzled out.
Evelyn: I made a few close friends through dating apps—so I don’t completely hate them. I met one of them in January of 2022, while I was living with my parents in Ottawa. After several dates with this person, we realized that we were in different places in life. But we bonded over music and kept messaging about it. Even today, we stay in touch through texts and voice memos.
Katy: In 2022, I was in Montreal, fresh out of a long-term relationship. I am bi, but my past partners had all been men, so I wanted to connect more with the queer community. I started going to sapphic queer events like burlesque shows and various bar nights. Then, a friend told me about OUTrun, an LGBTQ+ running club. It seemed like the perfect way to meet new people and immerse myself further in the queer community. I’m an introvert, so I was nervous before my first visit to OUTrun. But the environment was relaxed and welcoming. We began with a name and pronoun circle before hitting the trail. The club’s founder, Alexia, ran next to me, and we were talking so much that I ran out of breath. OUTrun made it easier to strike up conversations and get to know people compared to the nighttime events I had been attending. We all shared an interest in running, so asking someone, “What’s your running journey?” became a natural conversation starter.
Evelyn: In the fall of 2022, I moved to Montreal to start my master’s degree in occupational therapy. One of the first queer people I met introduced me to OUTrun and, within a week of arriving, I was already running with the club. As an extrovert, I was excited to meet new people.
Katy: I first met Evelyn at a house party on a Friday night. When she walked in, I immediately thought, She looks fabulous. I wanted to talk to her, and we chatted for about five minutes before getting pulled away by other partygoers. The next day, I arrived a bit late to OUTrun, and the group had already completed a few laps. Suddenly, I spotted Evelyn rounding a corner and joined her. The first thing she asked me about was my journey with queerness, so I asked her about hers in return. We also discussed our running experiences, covering the two topics we were guaranteed to have in common.
Evelyn: I forgot my debit card at that first run meeting, and Katy ended up paying for my coffee—I still don’t think I’ve officially paid them back for that! Katy ran incredibly fast, so I asked lots of questions to save my breath and keep pace with them.
Katy: At one point, Evelyn recommended some music to me, including "Jackie Onassis" by Sammy Rae and the Friends. I listened to it as soon as I got home.
Evelyn: Our weekly runs became a low-pressure way for us to build our friendship. The first time we spent time together outside of OUTrun, we went to Soup Café on the McGill campus. We met up after one of my classes and sat on the lower field.
Katy: That day, I opened up to Evelyn about my insecurities as a bi person in queer spaces. I let my guard down. I went to her place afterward, where we had snacks and talked about our past relationships. We kept hanging out. Once, Evelyn texted me to see if I wanted to shop for running shoes with her—I was so excited that I dropped everything at the lab I was working at just to spend time with her. After that, we started going on runs together outside of the club. I was always exhausted after our runs because I was going fast to impress Evelyn.
Evelyn: Later that fall, I knew I had feelings for Katy and wanted to be in a relationship with them. One time, Katy invited me to trivia—which I’m terrible at—but I went anyway, just to spend more time with them. After our hangouts, I’d always walk Katy home, trying to gauge if they felt the same way, but I never had the courage to make a move.
In December, after my last exam, I had dinner with some friends from my program to celebrate, and I invited Katy along. When Katy went to the bathroom, my friends insisted that I make a move. Later that night, I went to a party but wasn’t having fun, so I texted Katy and went over to their place instead. We stayed up late making a birthday cake together, since my birthday was the next day. It’s still up for debate who made the first move, but that was the start of our relationship. We celebrated my birthday by going to a cottage for a few days, so technically, our first date lasted 72 hours.
Katy: At the time, a lot of people started dating other people in the running club. There’s even a joke that once people began dating, they stopped coming to OUTrun. But Evelyn and I kept going; we even trained for and ran the Marathon Beneva de Montréal together. She signed up at first, and I thought, No way am I doing that—I’ll just hand you a Gatorade. But I ended up registering a month later as well. I had never shared something so meaningful with a partner before, and our shared love for running is something I cherish. I definitely couldn’t have trained for and ran a marathon with anyone else.
Evelyn: Katy and I eventually became the co-leads at OUTrun. Katy was already leading weekly runs up a mountain, so stepping into this role was the natural next step. As for me, I practically begged Alexia to let me get involved because I wanted to organize fun events like our winter and summer Olympics. We split everyone into teams and awarded points for each event, like pulling people on sleds and creating silly dance routines. We wanted everyone to let loose and have fun.
When we pitch OUTrun to new people, we tell them that they don’t have to be runners. Some people have been coming for two years and don’t run. Our goal is to provide a welcoming space for people to connect outside of bars with very few barriers.
Katy: People around me often share their dating struggles and ask for my advice on how to meet someone. I always tell them to engage in activities they enjoy, whether it’s a pottery class or, like in my case, a running club. It expands your social circle and helps you connect with people who already share your interests. Sharing a passion with your partner is a special experience, which I haven’t always had in past relationships.
Evelyn and I recently went long-distance. Last month, I moved to Alberta to start medical school at the University of Calgary, where I’ll be for the next three years. I plan to start a queer run club here to create a space for the community. Meanwhile, Evelyn is wrapping up grad school in Montreal, and we plan to see each other as often as our studies allow. And of course, whenever we’re together, we will always make time for a run.
