Our KNX Hero of the Week, Omar Covarrubias, is building partnerships, friendships, and a healthier community!
Omar CovarrubiasOmar Covarrubias and The 5AM Crew
Omar has been hiking since he was young, and a few years ago, he reached out to his friends and people on social media, inviting them to join him for morning hikes out of Griffith Park and up to Mount Hollywood Summit.
Omar Covarrubias and The 5AM Crew
It's now turned into an actual club that they call “The 5 AM Crew.”
“So we meet at 5 a.m. sharp,” he told Heroes host Heather Jordan. “We gather everybody around at about 5:10, do about a five-minute introductory speech, letting everybody know what the ground rules, the guidelines, introducing them to the idea of talking to somebody. So I'll give everybody one minute to shake somebody you don't know's hand, tell them who you are, where you're from, and what brought you here. Literally two minutes later, everybody's talking. They're getting to know one another, and then I have to tell everybody, ‘OK, break, like enough. Who's ready?’ And I'll say, ‘Who's ready for 6 miles?’”
Anywhere from 45 to 60 people get together before the sun rises to get some exercise and start the day off with some great conversations.
Courtesy of Omar Covarrubias and The 5AM Crew
Omar, who does this out of the goodness of his heart, says he's inspired to push forward and lead the way every morning hike because other people show up.
Courtesy of Omar Covarrubias and The 5AM Crew
“Coming back from the hike, I see a huge shift in the people around me, they're making plans,” he said. “They're talking about, you know, whatever their life goals are, and I realized it's bigger than me, and it's the payoff really. So there's times when I'm just like, I'm glad I didn't quit. That genuinely makes me happy. I just, all the people in my life that are around me are most people that I met through this experience, and I'd love to see how far I get.”
Omar Covarrubias and The 5AM Crew
The 5:00 AM Crew has a special Father's Day hike coming up, which includes a nice steak lunch.
Visit their Instagram page here.
Check out our other KNX Heroes here.
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