Tortugas Run Club Making Space for the Back of the Pack in Chicago

There is a photograph somewhere in a family album that changed the course of Chicago running history. Not a dramatic image of a finish-line tape being broken or a podium crowded with trophies, but a snapshot of a group of women, a mother and her sisters, grinning in their race-day gear with a handmade sign that read "Las Tortugas." They were doing 5Ks together for the joy of it, unbothered by their pace, proud of the name they had claimed for themselves. Years later, when David, the founder of Tortugas Run Club, was searching for a name that would capture exactly the kind of running community he wanted to build in Chicago, that photograph came back to him. The name was already there, waiting. It carried warmth, family, and a quiet defiance of the idea that speed determines whether you belong on the road.

A Crew Born from a Personal Reckoning

David began running in the years before the pandemic, and almost immediately he noticed something uncomfortable about the existing running group landscape. The culture was welcoming on the surface, but the slower runners, the ones who arrived last, who took longer breaks, who needed more time to find their stride, often found themselves on the margins. Groups would push off and leave them behind, literally and figuratively. There was no shortage of crews for fast runners chasing PRs, but far fewer for people who were simply trying to show up, move their bodies, and feel part of something. That gap was not abstract to David. He had lived it. So in March 2021, he decided to do something about it. He brought together a small group of people and built the kind of crew he had been looking for: one that placed belonging above pace, and consistency above competition. From the beginning, Tortugas Run Club was a collaborative effort. David did not build it alone. He gathered a team of captains whose shared values and individual personalities would help shape the crew's character. Kristin, Chris, JLuis, and José, known to most as Chino, each came on as captains, bringing their own networks, energy, and commitment to the mission. That core team is still at the heart of the crew today, and their continued involvement speaks to how seriously they take what they started together.

What the Name Carries

The name "Tortugas" is Spanish for turtles, and the crew wears it without irony. In a running culture that often rewards speed as the primary measure of effort and worthiness, claiming the turtle as your symbol is a small act of resistance. It says plainly that the back of the pack is not a consolation zone. It is a valid place to run from. The name also carries a specific family history, a lineage of women who ran together for the pleasure of it, who gave themselves a team identity long before running crews were a mainstream concept. That story lives inside the name every time someone puts on a Tortugas kit and heads out the door. It connects the crew to something larger than a training block or a race calendar. The philosophy that flows from that name is not complicated, but it is consistent. Every runner, regardless of pace, is welcomed with the same energy. No one is left behind on the route. The group moves together. That principle shapes every decision the captains make, from how they plan routes to how they communicate with new members. The result is a crew where people who have previously felt invisible in running spaces finally feel seen. That shift matters enormously. For many members, Tortugas Run Club is the reason they kept running at all.

Sunday Mornings at Harrison Park

The crew's weekly anchor is a Sunday morning run at Harrison Park, a well-loved green space on Chicago's Lower West Side. The group gathers at 10:00 in the morning, which is a deliberate and practical choice. It is late enough that members can ease into the day, get a proper breakfast, and arrive without the particular stress of a pre-dawn alarm. It is also a time that tends to work for people who hold jobs with irregular hours, families with morning routines, or simply those who prefer to run when the sun is already doing its work. Harrison Park itself is a fitting home for Tortugas Run Club. The park sits in a neighborhood with deep Latino roots, a community that has long shaped the cultural life of that part of the city. For a crew whose founding story is rooted in a Spanish name, in family history, and in the experience of runners who have sometimes felt overlooked by mainstream running culture, there is something right about gathering in a space like this. The paths are well-maintained, the surroundings are calm without being remote, and the park offers enough room to accommodate a group of around 60 runners without feeling crowded or chaotic. Regular members know the park well, and new faces quickly learn to love it.

Chicago as a Running City

Chicago earns its reputation as one of the great running cities of North America not through one single feature but through the sum of many. The lakefront trail stretches for miles along the edge of Lake Michigan, offering runners a path that is flat, scenic, and almost entirely free of traffic. On clear mornings the views across the water are genuinely stunning, the kind that make even a tired runner slow down to look. The city's parks, connected by a network of dedicated running paths, create options for routes that range from gentle neighborhood loops to longer efforts that take runners through the varied character of Chicago's many distinct communities. The running culture here is active and deeply embedded in the city's identity. Chicago supports hundreds of running groups, from elite-focused training squads to casual social joggers, and the city's race calendar is one of the most packed in the country. For Tortugas Run Club, that environment provides both inspiration and context. Their members participate in the life of Chicago running, show up at major events, support each other through training cycles, and in doing so help demonstrate that the running community is broader and more diverse than it sometimes appears. The crew has become a visible and valued part of that ecosystem, around 60 members strong and continuing to grow.

Race Days and the Wider Running Calendar

Two events hold particular significance for Tortugas Run Club within Chicago's race calendar. The first is the Shamrock Shuffle, an 8K held each spring that has the feel of a city-wide celebration as much as a race. The streets fill with runners in green, the atmosphere is festive and loud, and the event has a spirit of collective participation that aligns naturally with the values Tortugas Run Club was built on. It is not a race where the Tortugas are chasing a course record. It is a race where they show up together, cheer each other through, and experience the pleasure of being part of something bigger than any individual result. The second is the Chicago Marathon, one of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors and a race that draws runners from dozens of countries to run 26.2 miles through the neighborhoods of the city. The marathon is a spectacle, and it is also a deeply personal experience for those who run it. For a crew that celebrates persistence over pace, the marathon carries special meaning. Finishing 26.2 miles is not a small thing regardless of the clock, and Tortugas Run Club understands that better than most. Members who toe the line at the Chicago Marathon do so knowing that their crew sees the full weight of what they have undertaken.

Looking Forward Together

The crew is not standing still. Beyond their weekly runs and race-day participations, the Tortugas are working toward something that would make the crew's mission tangible in a new way: their own running event. The concept reflects exactly what the crew stands for, a race designed from the ground up to be inclusive, supportive, and genuinely fun, one where the back of the pack is as celebrated as the front. The details are still taking shape, but the intention is clear. They want to create an experience that welcomes runners who have sometimes felt unwelcome, and they want to do it in Chicago, the city that has given them their home and their routes and their community. That forward momentum is a sign of a crew that has found its footing. What began as one person's response to a gap in the running world, inspired by a family photo and a name passed down through generations, has grown into a living community of around 60 people who run together every Sunday morning and carry each other through the hard miles. The captains, Kristin, Chris, JLuis, and Chino, remain at the helm alongside David, and together they have built something that the Chicago running scene is better for having. Follow along with Tortugas Run Club on Instagram at tortugas_rc and find out what it feels like to run with a crew that meets you exactly where you are.