{"id":26966,"date":"2026-05-23T02:27:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T02:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/26966\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T02:27:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T02:27:30","slug":"k-pop-megastar-secretly-runs-iconic-bay-area-mini-marathon-before-sold-out-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/26966\/","title":{"rendered":"K-pop megastar secretly runs iconic Bay Area mini-marathon before sold-out show"},"content":{"rendered":"

He was \u201csmooth like butter.\u201d<\/p>\n

A member of K-pop supergroup BTS<\/a> quietly ran in San Francisco\u2019s famous Bay to Breakers race before performing a sold-out show at Stanford University.<\/a><\/p>\n

Group member Suga<\/a> glided through the mini-marathon on Saturday mostly unnoticed until videos of him surfaced participating in the 12km race.<\/p>\n

\"Organizers<\/p>\n

Organizers of the Bay to Breakers race were unaware of K-pop star Suga pop in their midst. Youtube\/@missionpeak<\/p>\n

One runner told ABC 7<\/a> that he had no idea he was running alongside the megastar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I had filmed the starting line. Then I would have had a video of him at the starting line. I definitely missed out,\u201d Mateo Coulson said.<\/p>\n

Organizers of the Bay to Breakers race were also unaware of the pop royal in their midst.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was there to run, that\u2019s our takeaway. He wanted to participate like everyone else,\u201d Phyllis Blanchard, vice president of partnerships for Bay to Breakers, told ABC 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t want to let us know ahead of time. If he did, we would have given him VIP treatment. He just wanted to fit into the crowd and run his race\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An estimated 30,000 people took part in the Bay Area foot race. Instagram\/@baytobreakers<\/p>\n

\"Bay<\/p>\n

Bay to Breakers has been taking place in San Francisco since 1912. Instagram\/@baytobreakers<\/p>\n

\"Suga,<\/p>\n

Suga, real name Min Yoon-gi, participated in the 12km race ahead of his group BTS\u2019s sold-out show at Stanford. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Suga, real name Min Yoon-gi, finished the race in 1:04:43, maintaining a solid 8:41-per-mile pace.<\/p>\n

Organizers said the star\u2019s time shows his running prowess.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all excited. This is the event to attract that kind of attention,\u201d Blanchard added. \u201cEveryone is welcome \u2014 community members, walkers, joggers, runners \u2014 and in this case Suga. He\u2019s quite the runner, you can tell by his finish time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans first caught wind of Suga\u2019s appearance when BTS member RM said on a Tuesday night livestream <\/a>that the band member regularly runs 10 kilometers a day and entered the race when he heard about it.<\/p>\n

He added that Suga woke up at 6 a.m. to run the race, and then returned to Palo Alto for the group\u2019s show that night.<\/p>\n

The group performed in front of tens of thousands of fans for three sold-out shows on the university campus.<\/p>\n

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