Five West Philly friends turned their Kelly Drive run into a weekly gathering of 250 people

The crowd moved in unison, approaching the starting line on Kelly Drive like a wave reaching the shore. A few weeks earlier, it was just five friends from West Philly going for a jog along the banks of the Schuylkill. And now their Tuesday evening workout became an event with more than 250 people waiting to take off.

“You just sit back in awe and say, ‘What is happening?’” said Abdul Muhammad, who helped start the Philly Run Tribe in June.

The five friends — brothers Hamza and Abdul Muhammad, Denzel Hill, Yasir Purdie, and Amir Walker — met on “The Drive” in June for a three-mile run after several unsuccessful attempts to run together. They never could agree on a time or place. Finally, they said to meet behind the Art Museum on one Tuesday night. It was nothing special. Just five friends running together on one of Philly’s most popular trails.

“We had no intention of creating anything,” Abdul Muhammad said. “It was just us running.”

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The friends posted on social media about their run and agreed to do it again the following Tuesday. They posted again, this time inviting others to join them on their next run. The next Tuesday, their group nearly tripled. They posted again, sending the same invitation to their followers.

“I guess that’s what you call going viral,” Hamza Muhammad said. “Because the following week, there were probably 40 people. Then every week, it seemed like it just doubled in size.”

The tribe kept growing, large enough that the organizers stopped counting once their group reached 250. It was never their intention to sprout a running club. It just happened.

They ran on Kelly Drive’s paved path for 16 straight Tuesdays before agreeing in early October to pause until next spring. Tuesday nights were for everyone from distance runners to people who just wanted to walk Kelly Drive with their dogs. The five guys from West Philly gained friends every week.

“A few of the people we knew, but most of them we didn’t know,” Hamza Muhammad said. “They just showed up and were like, ‘Hey, you guys running?’ We always said, ‘We’re not a running group. We’re a family who is running together.’ We welcomed every pace. We told people to just come out. It didn’t matter if you ran a good pace and were an avid runner or if you were just going to come out and walk. It’s people from all different neighborhoods coming together, and it’s positive.”

Hamza Muhammad grew up in boxing in West Philly and has trained fighters for more than 20 years. He works the corner for some of the city’s top boxers and even briefly trained his younger brother in the sweet science.

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“That’s ancient history,” Abdul Muhammad said.

Hamza Muhammad has always been into running. He runs with his fighters for roadwork conditioning, completes the Broad Street Run with ease, and regularly kicks the pavement on Kelly Drive. Muhammad thought he could turn the hobby he shared with friends into something more.

“It’s something positive but also something good for you,” Hamza Muhammad said. “You’re not just partying and drinking. You’re out here having a good time with like-minded people in a healthy way.”

The Tribe wanted the run to be more than just three miles of heavy breathing. They assigned someone every week to stay with the back of the pack and push the last runners across the finish line. They brought coolers of water and sports drinks, hoping it would entice runners to stay for the cool of the evening. They played music, invited a smoothie truck, and watched as the group stayed for hours. The five friends from West Philly used their weekly meetup to launch a community.

“This isn’t just for the 10-mile runners. This isn’t just for the fast runners. This is for everyone,” Abdul Muhammad said. “If you want to bring your kids, bring your kids. If you want to bring your dog, bring your dog. Whatever you want to do. It’s a comfortable space.”

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Every week, the pack grew larger as the Tribe buzzed on social media.

“We don’t ask for anything in return,” Abdul Muhammad said. “We don’t ask for money or people to sign up. People will say, ‘How do you register?’ ‘How do you sign up?’ ‘How much does it cost?’ There’s none of that. Just come out and get some work in with us. Have a good time. We set the stage for that environment.”

The Tribe largely was populated by Philly runners who grew up hanging out on “The Drive” like the five friends from West Philly and spent their weekends in Fairmount Park.

“It’s always been a part of life,” Hamza Muhammad said about Kelly Drive.

Their social media buzz attracted runners from as far as Washington and New York City, who drove to Philly on a Tuesday simply to run with the Tribe. They met Philadelphia running groups and showed up at their events. There was a whole community that the five friends from West Philly didn’t know about.

The Tribe was open to everyone, and the runners represented nearly every demographic, but a large majority were Black.

“To see 250 Black people come together for something this positive with great energy and no issues, everyone just having a good time,” Abdul Muhammad said, “it’s truly memorable and amazing. It sticks with people. People will mention to us, ‘It’s so amazing to see so many Black people come together for something so positive.’ That’s what’s heartening about it. What it means to others.”

One runner told them that the weekly gathering was “one of the coolest things to happen in Philly lately.” That hit. Maybe this was bigger than a weekly three-mile run. The five friends from West Philly felt like they gave the city a place to go every Tuesday night. No nonsense. Just running.

“You know the statistics in the African American community with diabetes and obesity and those types of things,” Hamza Muhammad said. “You can shout and scream at people to get in shape and eat better, but when you’re actually putting a platform out there for people to show up, that’s the contribution that can make the change in the community. It was just a way to get people out and fit and give people a boost on their journey to better health.”

The five friends from West Philly didn’t collect money or turn their weekly run into a windfall. They just came back every Tuesday night and watched the crowd move toward the starting line. They’ll run in races this fall and winter, keeping the Tribe together until they’re back on Kelly Drive in 2025. And everyone already wants to know when the next run is.

“That’s a good question,” Abdul Muhammad said. “We’re going to figure that out.”