Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brandon & Adriana Fravel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brandon & Adriana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
Run Free started because we were looking for something that didn’t exist in Camarillo at the time; a space to meet other runners and just run without pressure. No expectations, no competition, just a way to move, connect, and feel good.
For us, running has always been more than just fitness. It’s how we process things. It’s how we pray, how we meditate, how we reset. We wanted to build a club where that kind of connection was the focus: connection to yourself, to the people around you, and to something bigger.
Our mission is to create a welcoming, judgment-free space where anyone can show up as they are and feel supported. Whether you’re training for a race or just out there for the good vibes, there’s a place for you here
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
We’re Brandon and Adriana, co-founders of Run Free Running Club, based in Camarillo, CA. We started this club with the hope of creating something that didn’t exist yet—a space where people could move, connect, and feel supported, without judgment or pressure.
Brandon is a personal trainer, running coach, and ultra runner. Before all of this, he worked a corporate job in the fashion industry. On paper, things looked successful, but he started to feel disconnected from the life he truly wanted. He went through a period of anxiety and realized he needed to make a change. Running gave him clarity, peace, and a sense of purpose, so he followed that. He left his job and began building a business around what he loves most: helping people feel better through movement. His approach to coaching goes beyond workouts—it’s about creating meaningful connections with his clients and helping them grow physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Adriana supports the business through operations and community leadership. She brings a creative and grounded energy to Run Free and is always focused on building spaces where people feel safe, seen, and inspired. She also recently launched She Runs Free, a movement dedicated to empowering women through running and intention-setting. These events offer a space for women to come together, reflect, move, and reconnect with their inner strength. It’s about holding space for healing and joy in a world that often demands too much from women.
Together, Brandon and Adriana have grown Run Free into more than just a running club. It’s a community. They host weekly group runs: Wednesday road sessions, Saturday trail runs, and special events throughout the year like themed holiday runs, women’s empowerment gatherings, and collaborations with local businesses.
What sets Run Free apart is the energy. It’s not about pace or performance. It’s about showing up as you are. Whether someone’s training for a race or just needs to clear their head, they’ll find support, connection, and good people here. The focus is always on movement as a tool for grounding, healing, and joy.
At the heart of it, Run Free is about creating something meaningful for themselves and for others. It’s a space where people are reminded that they don’t have to do life alone. They can show up, take a breath, go for a run, and feel free.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
We’re actually married! We’ve been together for 20 years, and our story started at a local metal concert. We had seen each other around before but were both too shy to talk, until Adriana finally made the first move (she’s definitely the bold one). From that night on, we were inseparable. We went through college together, basically grew up together, and have been evolving side by side ever since.
Running didn’t come into the picture right away. Brandon got into it after we got married, starting with Spartan races. He signed up for the Spartan Beast 14 miles and was supposed to run it with a friend. When that plan didn’t go through, Adriana stepped in. Even though she had never ran that kind of distance or done anything like it before, she just went for it. It was a “what did I get myself into?” kind of moment, but after that, she was hooked.
We did Spartans together for a few years, and then naturally started transitioning into trail and distance running. Brandon went all in on ultra running, while Adriana found her way back into running in her own way, reconnecting with the parts of it that felt grounding, healing, and empowering.
We both share a deep love for nature, for movement, and for the connection between body, mind, and spirit. That’s what ultimately led us to create Run Free, a reflection of our values, our bond, and our desire to build something meaningful for others, too.
Have you ever had to pivot?
One of the biggest pivots in our journey happened early on. We actually started Run Free back in 2017, but we weren’t consistent with our community runs at first. At the time, Brandon was traveling a lot for work, and it made it hard to build any momentum. Toward the end of 2018, everything shifted, he left his job and made the decision to go all-in on building a business and a life that felt more aligned.
Meanwhile, Adriana was also in a place of figuring things out. She was struggling with confidence and body image; feeling like she wasn’t “enough” to be leading a run group, especially when most of the crew showing up were a bunch of dudes. So for a while, she stepped back.
But in 2019, she came back. And everything started to shift. More women started showing up, and the energy of the group began to feel more inclusive and balanced. At that point, we were still only hosting group runs about once a month. Slowly, we started doing more, feeling things out, figuring out what we could bring to the community.
Then COVID hit. Like everyone else, we were navigating the unknown. For a while, we paused our runs completely. But eventually, we knew we had to bring it back. People were feeling isolated, and we wanted to help bring back a sense of connection and normalcy, safely, and outdoors. We kept things flexible, sometimes randomly meeting up on a Tuesday at 11 AM because, honestly, everyone was working from home and it just made sense.
Once things started to settle again, we found our groove hosting weekly runs at Hill Canyon on Wednesdays. That was our trail spot, and as trail runners, it felt like home. But we also wanted to reach more people and build something that allowed for connection after the run. That’s when we decided to try something new and start Wednesday night runs from Institution Ale. It took us a while to land on that, finding a route without stoplights, a place that felt safe, accessible, and had good post-run vibes.
For years, we’d finish a run and head straight home, we had life stuff to handle. But people kept asking, “What are you doing after?” That’s when it hit us: we were missing something. We needed a place for everyone to gather, unwind, and just be. It changed everything. Now, our Wednesday nights are about the run and the hangout. And on weekends, we still get our trail fix with the Run Free Trail Hour.
The journey’s been full of pivots, but each one brought us closer to what Run Free is today a space for movement, growth, connection, and community. And we’re still growing. We even started a podcast, Dig Deep with Adi and Coach B, where we talk about running, life, spiritual growth, and honestly, just laugh and share what’s on our hearts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.runfreerunningclub.net
- Instagram: runfreerunningclub
- Facebook: Run Free Running Club
- Youtube: Dig Deep With Adi & Coach B
Image Credits
Adidas: Orlando Baez
Run Free Community Runs: Brandon Fravel
Brandon Running: Paksit