I am not a “fast girl”.  In fact in my career as a runner, I have only won two trophies. Both were for third place in local races in my age group.  I tell you this because the women that I train on the Girlfriends in Training Team honestly don’t care whether I can run a sub 7 mile or not.  I run for the same reason that they do – it makes us feel whole.  Therefore, my race experience is not my own, it is tightly bound to the women who share the miles with me.  My favorite story is not one of my personal achievement, but rather, participating as one of the hundreds of women on our teams over the years that search each other out at the finish line to say “can you believe what I just did?!”

Over the years, I have found other women out there that run to enhance their lives and give them a personal sense of accomplishment while helping them to feel balanced.  As we have shared the miles in training we have celebrated all of our accomplishments running or otherwise. Whether it is cheerfully placed sign and a bunch of balloons on a front lawn that says “Congratulations, you did it!” or a hug before a morning run and a quiet “I’m glad that you’re feeling better”- these are all a part of our fabric as runners and girlfriends. 

So nine years ago I set out to find more women who wanted to be a part of something special.  It started with 15 women headed into NYC for the inaugural running of the MORE ½ Marathon.  I set up their training, coach them, picked up their numbers, arrange the buses and order the gourmet picnic for the ride home – we jokingly call it “princess marathoning”.  Nine years and hundreds of runners (and walkers) later, Girlfriends in Training is going strong.

Girlfriends in Training has literally helped hundreds of women to cross the finish line. Our members tell us that what may have seemed unlikely at one time in their lives, has now become not only a reality, but a passion.  So we move the best we can whether it means coming in first or not-so-first we love challenging ourselves on some level.  We are a community of women who celebrate life by empowering each other. No sooner do we don our medals from one race and we begin dreaming about the next one.  We encourage each other to set a goal and achieve it through training which in turn has inspired us to set new goals in our every day lives and given us the confidence reach for those goals too.