Catching up with the ‘Album Striders’ before the El Paso Marathon

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso native Gabriel Nolasco has been running since his Ysleta High school days.

He kept at it when work moved him to Houston in 2008. But when he moved back home, his recreational hobby drew some interest.

“When I moved back to El Paso, I noticed that a lot of my friends asked me when I was running," says Nolasco. And so I started up a Facebook group called the album striders and we all just kinda run at our own pace and do different races together.”

Thus, the Album Striders Run Club was born. Home base for the group is Album Park on the East Side. And it’s members include cousins, in-laws, and friends.

But the driving spirit of the Striders isn’t about qualifications, but rather motivation. And they do it with some creativity.

“We’ll do challenges, we’ll do online challenges to kind of motivate each other to different runs. From people one mile a running day to running to qualify for the Boston marathon!”

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any competition among them...

“There will be some fun that we have with each other, poking fun to run faster or run longer. But it’s all in good fun and for everybody’s health.”

Gabriel and the Striders are currently prepping for the El Paso TFCU half marathon on Sunday, February 16th. One thing is for sure, this grassroots group will be doing it 'El Paso Strong.'

You can register for the El Paso Marathon, Half-Marathon, & 5k here!