Members of the Fat Mama’s
running club show off their medals
following a race in 2012. Pictured are, from left, Curtis Moroney, Key Smith,
Andrew Haile and Scott
Christian. Submitted Photo

NATCHEZ — Will Devening described the Fat Mama’s running club as “a drinking club with a running problem.”

Club member Curtis Moroney said the running club, which meets at Fat Mama’s Tamales at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, is a laid back social event for runners of all skill levels and ages.

“Key Smith and Cole Brown started it probably about five or six years ago,” Moroney said. “They wanted to get a group together to do something fun. It isn’t a serious group of just racers.”

The club is a social group which promotes running and aiding new runners. Some people run, others walk or just jog lightly. There are over 200 members on the club’s Facebook group. Moroney said the digital following has grown, but the number of runners varies week to week. Moroney said some days there could be six runners, and others there could be as many as 20 runners.

“Sometimes if there is a cold or wet evening and you think nobody will be there and it ends up being a big crowd,” he said.

When the weather is nice, runners sit out on the patio after they workout.

“Some folks will eat, some folks will drink and some folks will just kind of sit around and enjoy the company,” Moroney said. “We talk about running and everything under the sun.”

There are approximately four courses the club will take to as a group, with all about the length of a 5K race.

“We tend to do the same course at different speeds,” Moroney said. “Some people cut the course short. Occasionally some of us get there early and some of us do a 5K before the regular 5K so we can get a 10K in.”

Some runners were competitive before the club, but Moroney said he was not a regular runner before the club began.

“My kids ran cross country so I would go out and run with them occasionally,” Moroney said. “When this club came along, that’s what got me started running at a regular basis.”

Sometimes a tourist or new resident will come out, and Moroney said its given people a point of contact in town.

Tommy Smith, Cathedral High School’s cross-country and track coach, said the club always encourages new members to join its annual Wednesday outings. Smith said the club brings together groups of people who might otherwise not get to know each other.

“It’s the best mid-week stress reliever anyone could ask for,” Smith said. “A run, a frosty adult beverage and never ending comical banter. We all look forward to it.”