Presented by GRYT

Run Takomawith love ♡5K

Sunday · August 2, 2026 · Check-in 8:30 AM

Takoma Park, Maryland

Every good race starts with a story. This one starts with an album, a friendship, and a park worth loving out loud. Scroll for ours.

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The True Story

It started with an album.

On April 30, 2026, Oddisee and Heno. released From Takoma With Love on Outer Note — twelve tracks written as a love letter to Takoma Park. Songs about the block, the diaspora, the long unglamorous work of becoming who you are.

It's music made for early mornings. Lush, jazzy, patient. The kind of record that ends and leaves you wanting to move.

Four hundred miles away in Pittsburgh, one listener took that literally.

A vinyl record on a turntable beside worn olive running shoes and a blank race bib — The album is the love letter. The run is how we read it out loud.

press play, lace up ♡

Hear where it all started.

Twelve tracks for the training block — start it now, thank us at the finish line.

Nick × Heno.

Two builders. One long friendship.

Years before this starting line, Nick Merich and Heno. met through SongLink — the music-tech company Nick founded and later sold. The friendship deepened in the trenches of Nick's growth years at Mint Songs and Kids AI, where the two worked side by side building things that didn't exist yet.

That's where the trust comes from. Not a cold email. Not a booking agent. A decade of shipping hard things together.

Nick went on to found GRYT Club, a running community built around one idea: do hard things, together. So when From Takoma With Love dropped, the call was a short one — bring the album home to the park it was written for, as a run.

“Heno. made a record about where he's from. We're making a morning about it.”
— Nick Merich, GRYT Club

Produced by: Nick & Laura Merich
Operated by: GRYT Club
Community co-partner: Heno.
Inspired by: From Takoma With Love · Oddisee and Heno. · Outer Note
Hydration: smartwater

Morning sun and mist over a tree-lined creekside trail — Sligo Creek · Sunday Morningrun quiet, run together ♡

The Vision

Small, on purpose.

Most races want to be bigger every year. This one wants to be better. One hundred people, one park, one morning — built so that nobody finishes anonymous.

100

Runners, not thousands

Capped at 100 so every finisher gets cheered home by name. When it's full, it's full — that's the whole point.

Free, all the way

Free RSVP, no admission fee, ever. Community events should cost you a Sunday morning, not a paycheck.

♡

No stage. No vendor village.

Just a park, a route, and neighbors. The soundtrack is footsteps, the creek, and people calling your name.

H₂O

Water, with love

A stocked hydration station at the shelter, supported in-kind by smartwater — plus a second stop on the route the moment the parks team gives it the nod.

The Day

Sunday, August 2 — how it runs.

8:30 AM
Check-in opens
At the covered picnic shelter — our HQ for the day. Grab your bib, say hi to a stranger. ADA parking and accessible paths stay clear all morning.
9:00 AM
Welcome + safety circle
Why we're here, how the route works, and a thank-you to the volunteers in the bright vests. Then we stage in calm, easy waves.
9:15 AM
Walk/run begins ♡
Out through the park to the open parkway and back — marshals at every turn and both road crossings. Run it, jog it, walk it: every pace is the right pace.
10:30 AM
Return + hydration
Everyone funnels back to the shelter for smartwater and loud cheering. We stay until the last finisher is home.
10:50 AM
Community connection
Lawn time. Introductions, stories, and the strangers you started with turning into people you know.
11:30 AM
Park gathering
Easy, unhurried time in the park — group photo, catch-up, room to just be neighbors. No stage, nothing amplified.
12:15 PM
Light refreshments
Pre-packaged snacks and water at the shelter while the conversation keeps going — final details land in your runner email.
12:45 PM
Closing ceremony
Group photo, gratitude, and one last look at the park that started all this.
2:00 PM
Wind down, with love
By two o'clock we've packed out every sign, cup and crumb. We leave the park better than we found it.

Covered picnic shelter set up with a check-in table and water coolers, runners chatting on the sunny lawn beyond — The shelter is HQ: check-in, water, first aid, gathering, closing remarks.

The Park

Takoma-Piney Branch Local Park.

Tucked where the neighborhood meets the trees, with the Sligo Creek trail corridor breathing right alongside it. The covered shelter anchors the day; the green does the rest.

Getting there — Takoma Park, MD (directions). Arrive by 8:30 AM. There's an improved lot at the park — ADA spaces stay clear; carpool, bike, or walk if you can.
Facilities — Existing park restrooms on site. Plan like a trail runner: go before you go.
Bring — Yourself, a water bottle, a picnic blanket, and someone who said they'd never do a 5K.
Leave — Nothing. We pack out what we pack in.

our promise to the neighborhood ♡

On foot only — no road closures, no shuttles
Marshals at every turn and both road crossings
Nothing amplified, on the route or at the shelter
Driveways, sidewalks and ADA routes stay clear
Nothing staged on residential streets — ever
Every sign, cup and crumb packed out by 2:00 PM

The course — park to the open parkway & back

OutBackMarshalCrossingWater

≈3.1 miles on foot, marshaled at every turn and both crossings. Sketch, not to scale — the official route map lands in your runner email.

Good Questions

Everything else you'd ask.

Is it really free?♡

Really. Free RSVP, no admission fee, ever. Your only job is to show up and bring your best Sunday-morning energy.

I'm slow. Can I walk it?♡

Yes — run, jog, walk, stroll. Every pace is the right pace, and we hold the finish line open until the last person is home. Walkers are runners here.

I've never done a 5K. Is this for me?♡

This is exactly for you. A 5K is 3.1 miles, the course is gentle, and a hundred people will be cheering your name by the end. First-timers get the loudest finish.

What should I bring?♡

Yourself, a water bottle, a picnic blanket, and someone who swore they'd never do a 5K. Carry your bottle for the route — the shelter has water, first aid, and the gathering after.

What about parking and restrooms?♡

There's an improved lot at the park, and ADA spaces and accessible routes stay clear all day. Arrive by 8:30 AM and carpool, bike, or walk if you can — it's a neighborhood park, so be a good neighbor. Existing park restrooms are on site.

What if it rains?♡

We run rain or shine — the shelter is covered for a reason. If weather ever makes the course unsafe, every registered runner gets an email update the moment we know.

Is this an official, permitted event?♡

Yes — the day runs as a permitted community walk/run and park gathering with Montgomery Parks. Small footprint, volunteer marshals at the road crossings, nothing amplified, and a full leave-no-trace cleanup by 2:00 PM.

Can I volunteer instead of run?♡

Please. A crew of 6–10 makes the morning work — route marshals, check-in, water, cleanup. RSVP at grytrun.com and tell us you want a vest instead of a bib.

Dogs and strollers?♡

Leashed dogs and strollers are welcome at a walking pace — just line up toward the back at the start so everyone gets a clean first quarter mile.

Sunday · August 2, 2026 · Check-in 8:30 AM

100 spots.
that's the whole point ♡

Free RSVP. When it's full, it's full. Grab your spot and bring somebody.

Run Takomawith love ♡5K

It started with an album.

Hear where it all started.

Two builders. One long friendship.

Small, on purpose.

Runners, not thousands

Free, all the way

No stage. No vendor village.

Water, with love

Sunday, August 2 — how it runs.

Check-in opens

Welcome + safety circle

Walk/run begins ♡

Return + hydration

Community connection

Park gathering

Light refreshments

Closing ceremony

Wind down, with love

Takoma-Piney Branch Local Park.

Everything else you'd ask.

100 spots.that's the whole point ♡

100 spots.
that's the whole point ♡