There are K-pop idols, and then there is SHINee’s Minho. While many celebrities are content to maintain a polished image from behind the camera, Minho has consistently demonstrated a level of athletic discipline that would put dedicated runners to shame. At the recent SM Run ’26 event, the 34-year-old idol did not just cross the finish line — he went back to the starting point and did it all over again.
A Genuine Athlete Emerges from the K-pop World
SHINee’s Minho completed a 10km run in 48 minutes at SM Run ’26, an inaugural running event organised by SM Entertainment, held at Wangsan Marina on Yeongjong Island, Incheon. The time is notable — a 48-minute 10km translates to an average pace of 4 minutes and 48 seconds per kilometre, a performance that sits firmly in the competitive amateur range and would be respectable for a trained recreational runner.
Minho, who wears bib number 00001, did not stop there. According to an attendee who posted on Threads, Minho was spotted heading out for a second run immediately after completing the first. “Choi Min-ho is running 20km now, I met him face-to-face for the second time,” the attendee wrote, capturing the moment of disbelief that many fans shared online.
Minho turns 35 in December, making his physical output at this event all the more impressive.
SM Run ’26 Brings Together an Unlikely Roster of SM Entertainment Stars
The inaugural SM Run ’26 was not a solo showcase for Minho. The event drew a notable lineup of SM Entertainment artists across different groups, turning what could have been a routine branded activation into a genuine community moment for fans and participants alike.
TVXQ’s Changmin, Girls’ Generation’s Yuri, and EXO’s Suho were among the confirmed participants. Each brought their own storyline to the event. Suho, in particular, earned widespread admiration after completing his run despite battling a cold — a detail that fans quickly highlighted as evidence of his commitment. WayV’s Kun took a more unconventional approach, going live on social media while running, giving followers a real-time look at the event from inside the pack.
The range of participants — veterans from groups that debuted across different eras of SM Entertainment — underscored the event’s broader appeal as a crossover between K-pop fandom culture and mainstream fitness enthusiasm.
The SMTown Run Club: How This All Started
SM Run ’26 did not emerge from nowhere. The event has its roots in an impromptu run club that Minho started with fellow SM artists during the SMTown London concert in June 2025. What began as an informal gathering of performers looking to stay active on the road evolved into a structured initiative under the SMTown Run Club banner.
The London run club moment caught attention at the time, but SM Run ’26 represents its formal expansion into a ticketed, organised event — one complete with official bib numbers, a designated course, and the kind of crowd turnout that suggests it could become a recurring fixture on the K-pop events calendar.
For Minho specifically, the run club is consistent with a publicly known commitment to physical fitness that has been part of his public persona throughout his career with SHINee.
Fans React as the 20km Total Sinks In
The Threads post from the attendee who encountered Minho mid-second-run quickly circulated across fan communities. For many, the image of a K-pop idol voluntarily doubling his distance after already completing a competitive 10km was both surprising and entirely on-brand for Minho.
The reaction reflected something broader about how fans engage with idol athleticism in 2026. Running, in particular, has gained significant cultural traction in South Korea and among global K-pop audiences, with fan run clubs and idol fitness content becoming a consistent category of engagement across platforms.
Minho’s 20km total at SM Run ’26 landed squarely within that conversation — not as a stunt, but as a straightforward extension of the kind of dedication that has made him one of the more athletically credible figures in the K-pop space.
SM Run ’26 may have been the first edition of this event, but based on the turnout, the participant roster, and the social media trail it left behind, it is unlikely to be the last.