On a sun-drenched morning in Tokyo’s Nakameguro district, a group of runners gather, form a circle as they stretch and respond to a crucial ice-breaking question for any runner: What is the best post-run indulgence? (Coffee, beer and smoothies are popular picks).
The group is called the Meguro River Lazy Runners, although that’s a bit of a misnomer for people who may be casual runners but are nonetheless getting their cardio in at an early hour.
“We’re not training for a marathon. … It’s very casual,” says Alice Gregg who formed the group around three years ago after sampling other running clubs across the city and finding many to be intensive, training-focused and “quite hardcore.”