Victoria Goddess Run training run!

This year we were proud to become an official training clinic for the Victoria Goddess Run, an amazing event that not only offers three race distances - 5K 10K and half marathon - but also donates a huge amount of money to local charities. Part of being a training partner is hosting a training run, something we were more than happy to do. The Red Barn Market is a Victoria Goddess Run race sponsor, so we began and ended our training runs - a choice of 6K and 9K run distances - at their Mattick's Farm location. I'm so pleased we were able to choose this venue, since it allowed us to run on the scenic Lochside Trail and along peaceful rural roads.

We'd had some pretty terrible weather leading up to Sunday's training run, but we totally lucked out and had nothing but sun for the event. I know I speak for many when I say I breathed a huge sigh of relief. A bunch of us arrived early to mark the route and when I got back to the starting point minutes before we were due to begin, I was pleasantly surprised to see upwards of 40 - 50 people waiting to run! We honestly couldn't have asked for a better turnout; everyone was smiling and excited and raring to go.

I'm not going to lie: it was a brisk morning. But that sunshine energized everyone, I am sure. And to top everything off, Christy, my brilliant business partner (with the help of some very special people), made twenty-four (twenty-four!) motivational signs and placed them all along the run routes. I was running along and heard several people reading them out loud and I could tell that everyone was enjoying the added inspiration. I was so happy about it that I took pictures of several of them and couldn't resist posing with the one that read "I run like a girl. Keep up." ...I think she must have made that one for me. ;)

As I was coming back into the finishing area, a car load of smiling women were leaving and stopped, rolled down their windows, and thanked me for hosting such a fabulous event. I replied with something like, "Thank you so much for coming; I'm so glad you enjoyed yourselves!" I have to say that pretty much summed up the sentiment out there yesterday; people had a great time and so did we.

I truly hope to build and grow our relationship with the Victoria Goddess Run. It's an event that so closely matches what Running Moms aims to do: empower women to take the time for themselves to do something that makes them feel powerful within themselves. Running seems like a simple and even frivolous thing until you realize that it's actually more than just putting one foot in front of the other ...when you least expect it, you may actually find out what you're made of.

So here's to everyone who came out yesterday and made our first Victoria Goddess Run training run such a huge success. Thank you so much and we hope to see you next year!

This isn't even everybody; it was a stellar group.