Why choose Girlfriends In Training?

In 1995, I ran my first marathon, in remembrance of my dad, as a fund raising member of Boston’s Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Since that time, I have run 19 marathons including New York, Boston and most recently Chicago, meeting a number of women who all had their own reasons for running. Some of these women were high performance athletes, but the majority were regular people, like me, that had “acquired” a marathon life goal. Many women were uncertain if their training regimens were adequate and most spent the months leading up to the races training on their own.

As a result of a number of discussions over ten years, I initiated the women’s running group called Girlfriends in Training . It started with 15 women headed into NYC in 2005 for the inaugural running of the MORE ½ Marathon. Five years and hundreds of runners (and walkers) later Girlfriends in Trainingä is going strong. In April 2008 we went to NYC with 115 women in what has become our marquee event. Although our numbers have grown, our philosophy remains:

**Training should FIT INTO your life, not BE your life.
**Every program that is entered into with a whole heart and a great attitude will bring you to the finish line.
**Every participant should enjoy the training experience for what it is beyond just the physical performance.

The mission of Girlfriends In Trainingä is to bring women together in a fun, non-competitive atmosphere to celebrate life, set goals, make similar goal minded friends and find balance through the training experience. Our members tell us that being involved in our group has made what may have seemed unlikely at one time in their lives, not only a reality, but a passion. We move the best we can whether it means coming in first or not-so-first, whether we walk or whether we run, we love challenging ourselves on some level. We are a community of women who celebrate life by empowering each other through the miles.

Recently, our story was shared with other women in MORE Magazine’s December/January issue

Join us this year on April 26th for the MORE ½ Marathon adventure by going to www.GirlfriendsInTraining.com to register today.

Run Well,

Dixie Douville

Head Coach GiT