Women Run Strong

Perhaps your Friday nights with the girls used to involve winding down from a week at work with gin and tonic, some chips and possibly the odd cheeky tequila. But maybe they now involve a gym class followed by an early night, ready for parkrun in the morning. If this is the case then spending your Friday night at the Women Run Strong event would have been right up your street.

 

Women Run Strong was held at the Running Works shop in London on Friday 21st April. It was packed to the rafters - the free event was ticketed and all the tickets had gone within an hour. First off we went for a gentle, social run down to Tower Bridge where the main sport was selfie-taking. Then it was back to the Running Works for some nice food and drink (yes, Friday night booze wasn’t entirely absent). 

Next up was the bit I was really looking forward to - a panel discussion. The panel was Susie Chan (you all know her, right), Kelly Roberts (a US running blogger), Sophie Walker (leader of the Women’s Equality Party) and Devon Yanko (top US ultra runner). An eclectic panel, which didn’t disappoint. 

 

Topics ranged from the Marathon des Sables and its toe-mangling properties (Susie), to something most runners could only dream of: finishing on the podium of Western States (Devon), to a highbrow ’hot men of the New York Half Marathon’ photo project (Kelly). I told you it was an eclectic mix. 

 

At the more serious end of the spectrum Sophie talked movingly about her daughter, who has autism, and how the challenges she faces in her everyday life - things as simple as being understood - constantly inspire her. Sophie talked about how running a marathon seems insignificant in the context of the metaphorical marathon her daughter faces every single day. 

 

There was plenty to inspire any runner at the Women Run Strong event. And I’m pretty sure that many of the attendees would have been well up for chips and tequila afterwards. If you want to be part of the community you can join the Strava group. Selfies encouraged.