When fandom blossoms into something new

Happy New Year! I’ve had to step away from this newsletter to recalibrate towards the back half of last year, which turned out to be necessary just for my overall health. It’s been truly helpful, so I appreciate your patience. It’s also given me the time to work on stories that I have pursued last year, and most of that you’ll see come out in the next couple of weeks. 

I’m excited to share that succeeding newsletters will come out Friday at 5:30 pm Manila time. I will let you know if I once again decide to experiment with how often and what day this newsletter will come out so you can keep an eye out for it on your inbox. 

Ah, January. A time for new beginnings, new chapters, and famously, new resolutions. 

I’ve decided to my health and fitness one of my main areas to work on for this year. Balancing a one-person business and a Master’s program over the past year and a half made me realize that I won’t be able to go after my goals and dreams if I don’t give myself a stronger foundation. I noticed how much better my mood was when I was walking more often, and I felt amazing when I started Christmas Eve with a 45-minute workout on the treadmill. 

This realization, funnily enough, was happening in parallel to my becoming a fan of the Philippine pop group BINI. 

While I was trying to figure out how to live a healthier lifestyle and get back into working out, I got into the BINI rabbit hole, became a fan (BINI’s fans are called Blooms), and discovered that Blooms had organized a running club, the Blooms Run Club. 

A few months ago, I decided to talk to two administrators of the Blooms Run Club, Quito and Jaki, to learn more about how they discovered BINI, how the club started, and what brings the club together.  

How did they become Blooms? Jaki became a fan of BINI when their song Pantropiko went viral, she saw a lot of people dancing to the song on her social media feed, and she also started watching ‘BINI core’ videos (what Blooms refer to as funny moments from interviews, livestreams, and other events compiled into videos that showcase the group’s ‘chaotic’ personality) and clips from their Kumu livestreams. 

Meanwhile, Quito became aware of BINI around the time of the Talaarawan EP launch around March 2024. He then discovered the song Karera and started binge-watching their content. 

The Blooms Run Club started after one of the members of BINI (a Philippine pop group), Aiah, posted a 10 kilometer route on Strava, an exercise app popular with runners. According to Quito, one of his friends, triathlete Patrick Olympia, saw the route and decided to try it out. Quito then jokingly suggested that he form a run club, and with the help of another friend, Mat, a group chat was created. 

Jaki was one of the first runners to join the club. “Ako din very interested ako na gawin yung BINI route kasi nagra-run ako and sobrang fan ako that time. (I was very interested in doing the BINI route because I was already into running and I was a huge fan (of BINI) at the time.)” She shared. “I had this mutual friend namin ni Pat na sabi ko, “Uy, samahan mo naman ako na gawin kasi sobrang lost ako sa directions so kailangan ko ng kasama para mag-navigate pa. (Pat and I had this mutual friend and I told them, “Hey, run the route with me because I’m having a hard time with the directions, so I need someone to help me navigate it.).”

She adds, “So sakto, si Pat pala nag-iinvite na siya sa mga groups sa Facebook, mga running clubs, ganyan, tapos hanggang sa nakabuo kami ng group chat. Tatlo na muna kami hanggang nakadagdag siya nakakumpleto siya ng seven. Ayun, very first run talaga namin. Pero wala pang official name na parang Blooms Run Club. Kami-kami lang talaga, Blooms lang. (As luck would have it, Pat was already inviting people on Facebook, running clubs, until we formed a group chat. There were only three of us and then we became seven. That was our very first run. But there wasn’t an official name for the group like Blooms Run Club. It was just us Blooms running together.)”

This happened around May 2024. 

At the same time that the club started, BINI started to become more mainstream. After Pantropiko went viral and topped Billboard’s Philippines Songs chart, the group followed it up with another hit, Salamin, Salamin. 

The group’s growing popularity led to the Blooms Run Club’s own growth, and that prompted the run club to become more organized. They set up an Instagram page and and then a Facebook group. They also joined a Strava group created by a fellow Bloom, which they would eventually become administrators of as well.  

The group started to make Wednesday nights their regular run nights and announce it to the group the weekend or the Monday before. 

When the club had around 20-30 runners at one of their runs, they had to move their start point from Aiah’s original route to a new one to keep security guards (a fixture in a lot of public places in the Philippines) from breaking up the crowd and to be mindful towards other people using the space. 

The run club continued to attract attention, with Blooms outside of Manila sending them messages, asking them how to get to Bonifacio Global City to join their weekly runs.  

“Nagfa-file talaga sila ng leave (They really file leaves [to run with us]),” Jaki shared. 

Running can be pretty intimidating, so how do they make it welcoming for newcomers? Jaki shares that as the group grew, they realized that they would need to have routines in place to make it a smooth and fun run for everyone, regardless of age, sex, or skill level. 

They decided to share dos and don’ts, organize safety briefings, incorporate warm-ups at the start of every session, and make sure that they have pacers, sweepers, and marshals to support the runners. 

“Yung kakaiba lang sa run club natin is may dala-dala gaming speakers. (What sets our run club apart is that we bring speakers with us.) Yung stop light, minsan dance break na namin ‘tan. ‘Matik na ‘yan. (At the stop light, sometimes that’s when we do our dance break. That’s automatic.)”

Quito added that when they started breaking up into pace groups, they named the pace groups after lyrics of BINI’s songs, so they had a ‘buhay ay di karera’ (life is not a race) pace and even a ‘kapit lang’ (hold on) pace. 

He also noted that the Blooms’ admiration of Aiah led to them being curious about running. In fact, they had one member who wasn’t into running, and in just one month, he decided to do the 10-kilometer run four times. 

I could attest to the Blooms Run Club making things beginner-friendly and making it easier to channel that curiosity into action.

After my interview with Quito and Jaki, this story (and this newsletter) felt like it was never going to have its time, so I decided to bank it and work on other parts of my life. 

Then I saw a post from Quito on Twitter and decided to take on the JhoAiah birthday run challenge. JhoAiah refers to two members of BINI, Jhoanna and Aiah, whose birthdays happen to be just a day apart. Since they were celebrating their 21st and 24th birthdays in January, the Blooms Run Club decided to organize a birthday run challenge where fans can run or walk to meet a club-wide goal of 45,000 kilometers.

I downloaded Strava and joined the Blooms Run Club group on the app. While I didn’t get to contribute a lot, every time I went for a walk or a run, members of the club would show their support—even if my contribution for that week was just a mindful walk around the mall. There was no judgment, just support, and I did appreciate that. 

For the first time in my life, I decided to start Christmas Eve with a 45-minute workout on the treadmill—all thanks to this challenge.

The club ended up hitting the 45,000 km goal early and setting a stretch goal of 120,000 kilometers, which they also achieved. (The Blooms participating in the challenge actually logged over 125,000 kilometers.)

The Blooms Run Club celebrated the end of the challenge with a donation to Pawssion Project, a non-profit organization focusing on rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming abused and neglected animals.

What do they get out of being in the club? The club started out of curiosity and admiration and has since become a community of its own. On the Blooms Run Club Instagram page, there are posts celebrating members participating in different running events. Quito also shares milestones from Blooms Run Club members on X (formerly known as Twitter) and encourages fellow fans to join the club on its weekly runs. 

“They would run by themselves also, wherever they are and then they would upload their runs sa Strava or sa mismong Facebook group namin (on Strava or on our own Facebook group.)” He notes. “And everyone would keep encouraging each other in that Facebook group. There’s that community na enthusiastic about running and physical fitness.”  

Word about the club and its weekly runs would eventually make its way back to Aiah and to BINI’s management, leading to the first BINI Run in Manila. This would lead to one of Blooms Run Club’s biggest crowds to date (80+ people joined them on the next run after BINI made the announcement). Around 120 members of the Blooms Run Club would join the first BINI Run in Manila, and scores of people would join the club after that first running event. 

Quito adds that during the first BINI Run, one of their fellow admins, Erwin, ended up running next to one of BINI’s coaches, Mickey Perz, and introduced himself as a member of the run club, to which the coach replied, “Kayo yung dahilan kung bakit may ganito! (You’re the reason why we have this [run]!)

Jaki also shared that during the first BINI Run, people were offering to pick up each other’s race kits and offering slots for the run to other members of the club to make sure that they had a chance to participate. 

And on the day itself, a member who couldn’t join decided to show up at the event anyway. She decided to prepare sandwiches for the club and cheer for the runners. “Nakakatuwa yung sense of community. (That sense of community brings joy.)” shared Quito.

[Author’s note: At the time of our interview, the Blooms Run Club had around 2,500 members. As of this writing, they now have around 2,900 members in their Facebook group and the Strava group now has close to 4,800 members.] 

But beyond being noticed by BINI or their management, Quito and Jaki note that it’s the love for BINI, Original Pilipino Music (OPM), and running that keeps them going. 

“As someone who is a member of the run club, it’s fun because yung pagiging fan ko at least nami-mix ko with physical fitness and it’s something very positive. (As someone who is a member of the run club, it’s fun because I’m mixing my being a fan with physical fitness and it’s something very positive.)” Quito shares. “Music and movement, nagsasabay eh. Pang-tanggal rin ng stress. (Music and movement are hand in hand. It’s also stress relief.)”

Jaki adds that before each run, she tries to reach out and get to know their fellow runners, especially those joining them for the first time.

“Ang dami talagang first-timers na nagjo-join every time na nagra-run kami. And nakakatuwa kung ano yung reasons nila, like talagang kay BINI Aiah, nakita raw nila sa TikTok na parang sobrang saya daw yung mga videos kasi hindi lang talaga tumatakbo, talagang sumasayaw kami. Nagsasabungan pa kami ng mga sayaw, ganyan. Sobrang daming trip. Tapos nagkakasundo lahat so far. Nakakatuwa lang din talaga. (There are a lot of first-timers joining us on our runs. And it’s fun to learn about their reasons for joining, like there are people who join because of BINI Aiah, they also see on TikTok that we seem like we’re having a great time because we’re not just running, but we’re dancing too. We even do dance showdowns. We have all kinds of fun. Everyone seems to be getting along so far. It makes us happy.)”

Aside from being a way to relieve stress, Jaki shares that being in the group has also inspired people to push themselves. “May isa kasi doon na hindi naman niya talaga work yung designing ng mga logo, but he was able to create talaga branding [for Blooms Run Club]. (We have one member who doesn’t really design logos, but he was able to create branding [for Blooms Run Club.])”

For Quito, being part of the Blooms Run Club and being a BINI fan has also helped him discover new Filipino groups and new music, reigniting his love for OPM. 

The growth isn’t just happening on an individual level. The Blooms Run Club also continues to evolve, as the group is also working on developing new routes beyond their usual 10-kilometer route, hoping to usher more Blooms into their running era. 

***

I’m writing the last few sentences of this story at a café while a couple of my new Bloom friends are running at the second edition of the BINI Run. I decided not to run because I wasn’t ready for it, but I am at a café close to the venue for a post-run breakfast. 

(Our group chat had more people sign up for the post-run breakfast than the actual run, which was rather hilarious to me.) We shared stories over breakfast, tried to plan out how we would get to BINI’s concert next month, and talked about other live music events that we might want to go to together. 

While we had breakfast, I saw people in their BINI Run singlets walking around, looking for their own breakfast spots. And it hit me. This is probably what I love about fandom the most. This is why it continues to fascinate me, to the point that I want to study it and tell stories about it, even when I have seen its more toxic elements. 

I am fascinated by how much love and meaning we as humans can give to a book, a movie, a piece of music, a group of people. I am fascinated by our capacity to love not only to the point of inspiration but to the point of creation.

I am fascinated by our ability to take the seed that fandom plants in us and to cultivate something out of it. I am fascinated by what we can create when it comes from love.  

For the Blooms Run Club, it’s not just about fandom or the love of running, it’s about building a community where people can enjoy a new interest, spark love for an old one, or take the next step to being the best version of themselves—all while enjoying the support of new friends. 

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I’m looking to build a community of people who want to enjoy long-form storytelling around fandom and fan culture, and I hope that you will be one of those people.

Thanks for reading!