Perla Carrillo Arias

NMSU’s Swim, Bike, Run Club members run up and down stadium steps on March 25, 2024. This exercise is a part of the club’s weekly stairs session.

After three semesters, New Mexico State University’s Swim, Bike, Run Club has grown from one member to over twenty members who meet up to exercise on a weekly basis. 

The club began last year when the president, Hubert Henry “CJ” Quintana III, saw a flier posted by the advisors. When he showed up, he and the advisors were the only ones there. They soon found their vice president, Chloe Bryson, but it was just the two of them for last Spring semester. 

“By the time we actually started to get things moving, with just her and I having a regular exercise schedule, it was already April, so like trying wasn’t really worth it,” Quintana said, “And then in the fall, a couple more people joined in and… this semester has been the most people coming in.” 

Since then, they have added two officer positions, a treasurer and relations manager, who also regularly attend practices. Quintana expressed that the officers have been helpful in making the Swim, Bike, Run Club what it is now. 

“It was all on me last semester and then when I asked for them to help, like this semester, to make it good, they’ve really turned away with that and made it what it is, so it’s kind of not on me,” he said. 

The events the Swim, Bike, Run Club provides are stairs, swimming, biking, and running. The most popular event by far is stairs. Although about four to six people show up for most events, approximately 20 people come weekly for the group’s stairs event, which involves running up and down the stairs in Aggie Memorial Stadium.  

“Stairs is great,” club member Mauricio Cuartas said, “Like, we always got a good number of people going so it’s really cool that like all sorts of groups of people just like join together. And it’s also the toughest day out of all so it’s fun.” 

Besides weekly exercises, the club will also reimburse regular members for running a race with them. Bryson said that to be reimbursed for running a race, members are expected to show up more regularly than others. 

“So [for] that group, we do have like some requirements, pretty much like they have to be at least like three practices a week because… it’s kind of a big process to reimburse someone. So in order to do that, we want them to actually be serious about it,” Bryson said. 

Although the exercises can be tough, Cuartas expressed the many benefits — physical, emotional, and mental — that come from exercising with the Swim, Bike, Run Club. 

“I feel like the feeling of accomplishment, endorphins running through your body, feeling like you’ve earned your next meal because you’re going to intake the calories you left on the stadium,” Cuartas said. “Also, knowing that I’m getting closer and closer to CJ every Monday. There’s a lot of stuff that I can take out of it.”

Bryson said the biggest impact the Swim, Bike, Run Club has had on her is mental. 

“Like I’ve seen myself get faster and like have more endurance, but like the biggest thing for me is like, I just have like, I don’t know, I have more perceptive. I have a clearer mind whenever I actually exercise and I’m just a happier person in general,” she conveyed. 

To fully experience those benefits, Quintana said that it’s important to incorporate the Swim, Bike, Run Club into a healthy routine. He encouraged members and prospective members to have a balanced routine and make sure they are eating and sleeping well to feel good during exercises. 

“Having, like, any sort of structure when you get to college is pretty difficult,” he said, “And so just setting up a healthy lifestyle of getting exercise, getting good nutrition, good sleep, and all of that, I think, could be something that’s nice if it has like a community around it.”  

“And that’s kind of what our club and organization is like. Not [to be] super keen on being all flowery and get your eight hours of sleep every night, but if you’re going to do all the exercises, you’ll want to feel good for them. And so I think that that’s important.”