THURSDAY, JAN. 31, 2013 >>>

1. While many people would associate water or Gatorade with exercise, those people would be wrong, and the Tacoma Runners know it. Every Thursday at 6:30 p.m., for the last three years, waves of runners head out from a Tacoma pub, following a 5K route announced at the start, before returning to the starting line for multiple hugs and carbohydrate-rich beers. Mike Hahn, Derek Young, Rob McNair-Huff and several others launched the social group in 2010, with Young, Sarah Cutting and McNair-Huff running it today, hosting a website and setting the routes for 2,041 Facebook members. Tonight the Tacoma Runners will celebrate three years - with a 5K and awards - at the Parkway Tavern. Read Kristin Kendle's feature story on the Tacoma Runners in the Weekly Volcano's Mudroom section.

2. Sometimes you want a sweaty, grinding, and crazy time out of a show. You're not listening for the words but feeling the beat. Others, you want to sit and really contemplate what is being said while being swept away by how it is being said. KUPS and Northwest Sounds host an evening with songwriters ideally suited for the latter. From 7-9 p.m. Missouri's Barna Howard, winner of a Boston Phoenix Best Music Award Vikesh Kapoor and Hip Hatchet from Portlandia will fill Oppenheimer Cafe with melodies and carefully orchestrated folk songs. To reach the café, enter through the southwest entrance of Thompson Hall down on the University of Puget Sound's campus.

3. First Prize Winner of the 2011 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, violist Veit Hertenstein is one of the most exciting musicians on his instrument to emerge in years. He has already garnered recognition for his exciting stage presence and virtuoso artistry. Catch him at 7:30 p.m. inside the Washington Center in Olympia.

4. Phasers on Kill has been fighting the pop punk fight for nearly four years since members of the defunct West of Waco formed this quartet, grabbing the name from a Screeching Weasel song. Phasers on Kill's latest, Write Home, is a five-track EP — a jump-up-and-down-and-smash-something sort of album that at once rocks like the bejezus yet is melodic. Chris Adkins (guitar, vocals), Mikey Waco (guitar, vocals), Ryan "Timebomb" Smith (drums) and Dan Rankin (bass) will showcase Phasers' new work tonight at Louie G's Pizzeria with The spittin' Cobras.

5. Engine House No. 9 is housed in a firehouse built in 1907 and still retains some of original firefighting artifacts. Purchased by the X Group, the force behind Asado and Masa, there's new excitement with better food, a whiskey bar, more craft beer from head brewer Shane Johns and a shuffleboard in the sideroom. Rev. Colin hosts karaoke two nights a week, starting at 9 p.m. He possesses a wealth of oddball musical knowledge and a disarming ease for calling everyone "baby."

LINK: Thursday, Jan. 31 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area