Jannie Cox’s inspiration was sparked on a frigid night in Colorado Springs six years ago, when she saw a crowd of people out jogging and walking in the falling darkness.
Cox and her husband, David Syverson, learned that Colorado group meets regularly, to exercise and socialize, and she decided Tucson needed the same. What followed, just a few months later in April 2009, is a local event that now draws hundreds — sometimes as many as 700 — to downtown Tucson on Monday evenings.
Meet Me at Maynards celebrated its 300th event Monday night. In typical fashion, masses gathered to walk and run, socialize and laugh, and, perhaps, eat out afterwards at a downtown restaurant or at the meeting point, Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street. (Learn more at meetmeatmaynards.com)
The name stems from its first years, when participants met on the patio outside of Maynards Market & Kitchen, 400 N. Toole Ave. Within a couple of years, Cox said, they had to move to Hotel Congress’ larger patio to accommodate the growing crowds.
The idea also spread to the Foothills in 2012, where people now gather for Meet Me at La Encantada each Wednesday. And, with Cox’s help, one was also started in Boise, Idaho, and then Phoenix in November. (Learn more at meetmeatlaencantada.com and meetmedowntownphx.com)
On most Mondays in Tucson, you’ll find Tucsonan Cathy Nash and her family walking along the event route, often with friends or extended family. Nash’s daughter, Kim, 32, has Down syndrome and has become a favorite regular for Cox, who gets a strong hug from Kim before the walks begin.
“I feel as though they are part of our family,” Cathy Nash said of Cox and the friends they have made. “We try to only miss two times per year.”
As they walk, Nash and her husband, Gary enjoy reminiscing about their childhoods here, and the way Downtown Tucson looked when they were kids. There are two-, three- and four-mile options for walkers and runners, and include historic markers, points of interest and Fourth Avenue.
Like Nash, James Passannanti is also an event regular, and has been since the beginning.
Passannanti, 39, said he had started walking, then running, about a year before he heard of Meet Me at Maynards as part of his weight-loss plan. He credits Maynards — and the inspiration of new, active friends — with helping him stay focused on his fitness goals.
He met Cox the night of the first event and asked her if they’d do it again. He was thrilled to hear it would be weekly.
“Now it’s six years later and we keep coming back,” he said. “Rain or shine or snow. Well, it’s never snowed.”
Passannanti keeps track of his progress on the event website and has attended 247 times so far.
Participants are rewarded for their participation. After eight times, Cox said, you get a T-shirt. After 15, a running cap. At 50, a pin for the cap. Those who reach 100 receive a purple shirt and membership to the century club, she said. There are 169 century club members and 19 double-centurians so far.
Passannanti wonders what he’ll receive when he reaches 300. “I’ll be there eventually,” he said.
Passannanti runs if he is alone or walks if joined by his partner, Annette Gallego and their two daughters, Ava, 12 and Clementine, 2. Occasionally, Gallego’s 18-year-old daughter, Bella, also joins them. The weekly event was made more significant for their family a couple of years ago, Passannanti said, when Gallego walked the week she was due with Clementine and labor started shortly thereafter.
“In 2008, I was the heaviest I’ve ever been and I wanted to start doing something,” he said. “I now feel a million times better. Meet Me at Maynards helped me enter this whole new community I didn’t know existed.”
Meeting new people was part of Sarah Vu’s incentive when she started attending in 2009. Vu, 38, was new to Tucson and looking for community events when she saw the listing on the Arizona Daily Star’s online calendar. (Learn more about Tucson events at dailystarcalendar.com)
She takes along her 3-year-old son who, like Passannanti’s youngest daughter, was born following a Maynards event. “My friends there kept an eye on me because I was a big, waddling pregnant lady,” she said, laughing at her memory of the night she went into labor.
Vu was back the next week, new baby in tow, to celebrate her 100th run with the group.
“Maynards really helped me meet up with people who are like-minded,” she said. “And they offer you incentives to go and that keeps you coming back.”
Cox said that, in addition to their weekly participation prizes, about 30 restaurants offer Monday-night discounts to anyone with a Meet Me at Maynards stamp, which participants receive before they begin the course. About 20 restaurants donate gift certificates each month, which are given away during weekly drawings.
Everyone gets gloves and a trash bag on the third Monday of the month, when they do a garbage pickup.
“The first 20 get trash picker-uppers,” said Cox, 68, who was CEO of the Carondelet Foundation before she retired five years ago. Prizes are awarded to three of the “trashy athletes” in a separate drawing.
Did Cox expect it to be so popular?
“No. Oh, no,” she said. I was just hoping we could pull it off because I was so impressed with what they were doing in Colorado Springs. I am thrilled. I just absolutely love it.”
