Diplo Beat 10,549 People at His 5K Race — Then DJed a Rave for Them: ‘Glad I Found a Hobby’ (Exclusive)

Diplo tells PEOPLE how he built his online run club and brought those runners together in San Francisco on Sept. 8

• Diplo tells PEOPLE he's "re-energized" his interest in running "the last six, seven years," as well as founded Diplo's Run Club, "just ’cause I started touring and it was my favorite thing to do right when you land or before you take off just to acclimate your body to travel"

• The “Where Are ü Now” and “Electricity” musician built his following for Diplo’s Run Club via fitness tracking app Strava, where his “Diplo wes” account posts his runs, routes, mileage, shirtless photos and other content

• “When you really start working on your body you realize, okay, recovery is the other half of it,” he emphasizes. “If you wanna keep running and doing it, you have to constantly take time to recover"
  

Diplo, a mayor, an Olympian and four inflatable dinosaurs emblazoned with “Diplo’s Run Club” greeted nearly 11,000 registered runners at the starting line in San Francisco for the club's inaugural 5K race.

On Sunday, Sept. 8, Grammy winner Diplo, whose stage name derives from his love of the Diplodocus dinosaur, attracted the huge horde for the morning run and an even larger post-run rave with a DJ set from him.

“It’s not about how fast we run today, it’s about showing up with each other,” Diplo, 45, said into a microphone onstage before the race. “You guys are an amazing crowd. I love you so much. Let’s all run together!”

After Mayor London Breed told everyone that “San Francisco has no time restrictions on having a good time,” Diplo lined up with Olympic runner Alexi Pappas at the starting line, before the swarm raced along the run’s waterfront route, which included loops inside the Giants baseball stadium.

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Diplo finished in 216th out of 10,765 registered finishers and countless more people who ran unregistered, an impressive rank considering he talked to fans and took in the sights along the roughly 3.2-mile course.

Finishers, some of whom traveled from out of state such as 36-year-old personal trainer Mauricio Fagoago and his girlfriend from Austin, received medals fittingly inscribed with, “A RUN NEVER SOUNDED SO GOOD.”

Born Thomas Wesley Pentz, Diplo initially got into running while living in Philadelphia during the end of his Temple University era. He would run on a “great road up and down the Schuylkill River,” which fictional boxer Rocky Balboa ran along in the Rocky film franchise.

Philadelphia is where he first felt “the runner’s high” — the endorphin-infused euphoric feeling people can achieve during or after a workout.

“This is like 25 years ago when I first did that,” Diplo tells PEOPLE, noting that he didn’t really start running consistently until this past decade. “And then now I've been re-energized running the last six, seven years just ’cause I started touring and it was my favorite thing to do right when you land or before you take off just to acclimate your body to travel.”

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The impetus for Diplo’s Run Club came in 2022. While he was out in Miami on a Saturday night, someone bet him to run the half marathon the next morning without any proper training. He accepted the bet.

Diplo completed that Miami Half Marathon in 1 hour and 50 minutes, faster than the two-hour DJ set he played two days before the race. After the 13.1-mile run — still wearing his finisher medal and race bib — Diplo went to Club Space and danced while relishing in another runner’s high.

“That was the whole beginning of this journey,” he admits. “I walked in with my running clothes on. My friend was DJing. I was like, ‘This is badass.’ I’m like, ‘Hey, look at my bib.’ I was the only person [there from the race].”

Since then, as he noticed running becoming more popular, he decided to combine his passions for music and running to launch his run club.

“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, these, these kids really want to run. They wanna run and rave, so let's do it for ’em,’ ” the father of three explains.

Related: Diplo Runs the L.A. Marathon in Under 4 Hours: 'All That Matters Is That I Can Beat Oprah'

Diplo competed in several races, including the Los Angeles Marathon in March 2023 and the Malibu Triathlon in October 2023, before bringing Diplo’s Run Club to San Francisco on Saturday.

The “Where Are ü Now” and “Electricity” musician built his following for Diplo’s Run Club via fitness tracking app Strava, where his “Diplo wes” account posts his runs, routes, mileage, shirtless photos and other content.

“I just needed a way to track what I was doing,” Diplo says of Strava. “I just had a lot of friends that were on it and they followed me, and I think it's just a beginning of a bunch of like partnerships with people that want to help grow this running community — and I’m glad to be part of it.”

After Diplo crossed the finish line on Saturday, he headed to Normatec’s compression boots booth and Plunge’s cold plunge booth for a recovery dip, the latter of which he discovered after the L.A. Marathon last year.

“When you really start working on your body you realize, okay, recovery is the other half of it,” he emphasizes. “If you wanna keep running and doing it, you have to constantly take time to recover.”

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The post-race crowd at Pier 30/32 swelled to an estimated 14,000 people as the clouds parted for Diplo’s early afternoon rave, where he DJed on an elevated stage overlooking the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island.

“We all did it together. Let me see those hands up high,” Diplo, wearing a Giants jersey, told the sweaty audience. “How good do you guys feel today? You guys have a great city right here. A great community. A lot of heart. If you love the Bay Area, let me see those hands up high!”

Next up, the runner-musician will bring Diplo’s Run Club to Seattle on Sept. 14 for another 5K race and rave. In 2025, Diplo hopes to bring the experience to other cities around the world, with options including Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, Montreal, New York City, Paris, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland,  San Diego, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington, D.C.

“I'm glad I found a hobby that I got older in and all my everyday friends joined,” says Diplo, whose entourage joined him on Saturday. “It's a very democratic hobby."

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