Anastasia Harris ran track in middle school, high school, and college. But after those golden years, Harris says, it was like her ability to do the sport had reached a finish line. But she wasn’t done with track and field—and she knew others weren’t either.
That’s why, in 2024, she founded Run it Back., an adult track club promoting health and wellness through community workouts, events, and track meets.
“Unless you’re going to the Olympics, which I was not, or wanting to run long-distance races, like a 5K up to a marathon, there wasn’t really a communal space to run or sprint as an adult,” she says. “My favorite part about sprinting in high school and college was doing it with a team. You really feel like your best self when you have competition or people around you to push you to be faster or jump or throw farther.”
The Club’s Beginnings
As an adult runner, Harris found her school-aged pastime to be a great way to move her body and pursue a healthy lifestyle. With Run it Back., she wanted to offer that opportunity to those who both missed the sport and to those who had always wanted to give it a try.
“I think sprinting is something that most folks don’t do once you hit a certain age, but that is a myth–you can absolutely sprint,” she says. “You just have to kind of work up to it and make sure you stretch well and do all the right things in terms of your health. But it can be a really fun way to exercise.”
Harris says people who haven’t run since school are their target audience, but members range from distance runners doing “speed work” training to throwing and jumping coaches to first-time runners just dipping in their toe.
Practices begin with coach-led dynamic team drills and stretches. “We then go into our workout, like an open 200, which is half the track,” she says. “We have different time points for everybody to hit, depending on their skill level. So if this is your first time out here, your time will be a little bit slower or you’ll have more time to complete the workout. And then, if we know you’ve been out here for a while, and you can push yourself, we’ll give you a shorter amount of time to finish that 200 meter. So no matter where you are, you’ll feel accomplished and like you’re going at the pace that’s right for you.”
The Experience
Anywhere from 20–40 people routinely come to Run it Back. track practices, and about 100–120 people come to the meets in total, including athletes and spectators. Practices take place at SLU Medical Center Stadium (3300 Hickory), and meet locations vary.
“I feel like for each track meet, the crowd gets bigger and bigger,” she adds. “The actual core team is around 30 people, but people come in and out, and I think that’s also the cool thing about our track club. You can come and say committed and focus and have your own goals to meet, or you can just, like, hop in and see if this is something you want to do or incorporate into your other training programs.”
Harris says her main mission for the organization is to have fun with it, the same way she and her teammates did at track meets in their younger years. “If we’re not having fun, we’re doing it wrong,” she says. “I am a huge advocate for having fun and playing, no matter what age you are. The way that we do that is that we do our workout, but then we’ll literally play games after the workouts are over. I also incorporate music into our workouts.”
Run it Back. is free to join and workouts are free, but track meets range from $15–$25 because of electronic timing. After the final winter events, the club will be on hiatus until May 2026. Harris recommends following the club on Instagram to stay up-to-date on scheduling. Events included in the meets range from the open 100 meter to the 1,500 meter and all distances in between, as well as relay races, jumps, shot put, discus, and javelin. All meets also have a 50-meter kid’s fun run.
As she closes out Run it Back.’s second season with an inflatable costume relay race on October 29, Harris says the track meets are the center of it all. “Our meets are the most exciting part of our track club,” she says. “I wanted to feel that nostalgia of those college or high school days, when we had these track meets that just had a very special feeling to them.”
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Harris says she does her best to replicate the energy of those days spent on the track by starting early in the morning and incorporating a live DJ and food and juice vendors into the mix, which spectators can also enjoy. Meets feature a recovery tent with a physical therapist for the athletes, as well as medals for first-place winners. “It’s so important for anything that you compete in—you want proof that you did something.”
At the club’s last meet, winners of the mixed 4×4 received tickets to a St. Louis CITY SC match. “We tried to give out really cool prizes and fun things so people want to stay engaged,” Harris says. “It takes the high school and college track meet experience and elevates it to another level where it’s truly like a party mixed with a track meet.”
The Impact
Harris takes great pride in the atmosphere at practices and meets, which she describes as high-energy, inclusive, and friendly. “Everyone will talk to you,” she adds. “It’s not just me that’s going to people and saying, ‘Hi, this is your first time here. Where are you from? When’s last time you were in track?’ Everybody there is engaged with new people, making sure they feel so welcome.”
One of Harris’ favorite moments from the past two seasons of Run it Back. happened during the club’s first meet. “Someone ran in the meet who hadn’t run since high school, and his dad had never been able to attend any of his track meets. But at our very first track meet, his dad was able to come and finally watch him run,” she says. “It was perfect. We are giving people a platform, an opportunity and a space to get back into that childlike play—the fun that you used to have when you were younger. But also, it’s a healing experience where we’re like mending relationships and giving people a chance to experience something that they maybe missed out on when they were younger.”
Harris says that’s the moment that made her realize that Run it Back. is bigger than her initial goals. “It’s just something I never even considered—the fact that maybe parents and spectators were going to be able to experience this and have that moment with their athletes as well,” she says. “I think that’s amazing.”
Beyond the emotional ramifications of revisiting a childhood passion, Harris says, is the act of bringing joy back into fitness. “In 2025, especially for Black folks in the U.S., finding spaces for joy that are effortless, that don’t cost money, and that are easy, is extremely important, and something that motivates you to want to keep going,” she says. “It also kind of fills you in ways because we are kind of being depleted all the time. We are just constantly being bombarded with the news or personal life struggles—adulting. It’s just constantly pulling at us. Coming back to running, coming back a space and a community that brings us joy and fun, is crucial.”
What’s Next
In pursuit of that joy is Run it Back.’s final event of the season–an inflatable costume relay race on October 29.
“I really want to find ways to make the track seem more accessible and not as intimidating to people,” Harris says. “I run into a lot of folks that feel like they can’t join us. They haven’t ran in such a long time; they aren’t in shape; they want to get in shape first before they meet us out on the track; or they say it’s just not for them. So I’m trying to find ways to translate what we’re actually doing on the track to people in real life, so they can see that it is for everyone. We’re just having a good time.”
