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Maynard’s run/walk stays hot through the summer

July 28, 2009 (3:24 pm) | Permanent Link

by Teya Vitu

Used to be, Monday nights were dead Downtown.

Then along came Jannie Cox in mid-April with Meet Me at Maynard’s.

Cox had the notion to start a weekly social running/walking event through Downtown with the start/finish line at Maynard’s Market & Kitchen in the Historic Depot on Toole Avenue.

Along the way, Cox found seven Downtown restaurants to offer sidewalk refreshment stands as well as discounts for dinner afterwards for Meet Me at Maynard’s participants.

Instantly, Meet Me at Maynard’s became a Downtown phenomenon, drawing upwards of 200 people each Monday before 6 p.m. to walk Cox’s 3.2-mile route. It snakes through the Armory Park Neighborhood, by the Temple of Music and Art, along St. Augustine Cathedral, up to El Charro Cafe and down Congress Street to return to Maynard’s.

Runners take in the sights of the Presidio District as they wind their way through Downtown. Photo by Cristina Luis

Runners take in the sights of the Presidio District as they wind their way through Downtown. Photo by Cristina Luis

“It has completely changes how everybody Downtown looks at Monday night,” said Todd Hanley, operations manager at Maynard’s and Hotel Congress.

There’s no government support, no corporate sponsorship, no committees, not even a formal organization. It’s largely a guerrilla event spearheaded by Cox. People hear about it, show up between 5 and 6 p.m., and then fill downtown on foot en masse.

“The whole communication about it is e-mail,” Cox said. “If I would be doing this with a group, it would be burdened by the need for a consensus. If I have an idea, I just put out an e-mail. I don’t have to have a consensus.”

Meet Me at Maynard’s, already nicknamed as MMM or 3M, does collaborate with the Southern Arizona Roadrunners, the local running organization, whose insurance covers the event. Cox is friends with Roadrunners Past President Randy Accetta, who sent an e-mail blast to his 300-strong membership to introduce 3M to the local running world.

“This is our main, weekly event,” Accetta said. “It’s bringing people together in a healthy pursuit and it’s showing people Downtown is a vibrant, communal space.”

Word spread like wildfire. Other running, walking and biking clubs heard of 3M, such as the jHavelina Hash House Harriers, “a drinking club with a running problem,” as described by member Robert Lanier while walking the course.

“We’re all pretty much fitness freaks,” said Lanier, adding that copious amounts of beer follow Hashers physical outings. “(3M) is teaching me Downtown Tucson. I’ve been here since 2005. I don’t know what to think, to be honest with you. It’s a part of the city that everybody ignores.”

Through the 17th event on Aug. 3, 3M has drawn 3,021 participants and 1,104 individual runners or walkers. Cox said each week 50 to 85 new participants show up. Cox originally thought Meet Me at Maynard’s would go into hiatus after Memorial Day as temperatures cranked up.

“People said, ‘no, it needs to be all summer,’ ” Cox said.

Cox, the former chief executive at the Carondelet Foundation, modeled Meet Me at Maynard’s after Jack Quinn’s Running Club in Colorado Springs, Colo., where she has lived part time for the past year.

“It was dark and it was cold in December,” Cox said. “I saw hundreds and hundreds of people walking down the street, young and old and pushing strollers.”

She found out it was a Tuesday social run tied to Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub.

“All the restaurants in Colorado Springs are packed on Tuesday night,” she said. “I thought wouldn’t it be neat to get people to downtown Tucson. I came back here and started to think how to get something started here. I called Randy Accetta. He introduced me to Richard Oseran (owner of Maynard’s and Hotel Congress).”

Meet Me at Maynard’s has already become a firm Monday ritual for many.

“This is par of my Monday routine,” said Dwight Farris, a University of Arizona web developer, who found out about 3M through his biking club, where Cox is a member. “After work, I get dressed, go to Downtown. It gets me going.”

Nancy and Steve Teran have been to each 3M, except one when they were out of town.

“This is our thing to do Monday night,” Nancy Teran said. “This is two hours out of our Mondays. It’s something to do rather than sitting around.”

Steve Teran grew up Downtown and insists the area is not as bad as the general populace thinks.

“There’s a lot of neat neighborhoods, a lot of little things they’ve built up,” Steve Teran said. “They’ve been fixing up sidewalks and streets.”

The official refreshment/dinner discount locales are Barrio Food & Drink, offering 20 percent off the dinner tab; La Cocina with a $5.95 dinner buffet; El Charro with $5 off all regularly priced entrees; On a Roll with a free California roll or vegetarian tempura with the order of a specialty roll or entree; and Burger City with a free soda and fries with a burger order. Cup Cafe offer a free glass of wine and 20 percent off all entrees, and Maynard’s has free lemonade and munchies, $2 draft beer on the patio and $2 off entrees.

“It has been making our Mondays,” said Deborah Kelly, catering manager at Maynard’s and Hotel Congress and the source for draft beer at 3M. “Business has increased hugely here and across the street (at Cup Cafe).”

Burger City has evening hours during the summer only on Mondays and Thursdays, specifically to serve 3M and Cinema La Placita patrons.

“We are getting a lot of families of groups of four or five,” said Tig Collins, executive director of ArtFare, an organization that provides space, equipment and training for a number for a number of arts, such as Burger City, its culinary arts program. “(Meet Me at Maynard’s) is having a wonderful impact. The main thing it’s done is bring families Downtown and to Burger City.”

Cox, herself a passionate cyclist (and veteran of El Tour de Tucson’s 110-mile course) and runner for 30 years, marvels at the spontaneous success of her brainchild.

“It’s done exactly what I wanted it to do: bring healthy, vibrant people Downtown,” Cox said.

For more information on Meet Me at Maynard’s, click here.