Running with the Garage Girls
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Garage girls go….?
About five years ago I was looking for a running group to train with for a half marathon. I stumbled upon a new running store in Annapolis, MD, Charm City Run. At the time, I was simply excited to have a focused group to train with for a particular race. Little did I know that what I had signed up for would lead to the creation of amazing friendships! We were certainly a diverse group. Teachers, nurses, engineers, and others, various ages and backgrounds. But, we all had one common goal-to get better at running and have some fun.
One race led to many more races (sometimes too many races!) and stronger friendships. We had been running together for about a year or so when we all realized that we needed to add some strength training to our workouts. But, as it was winter time and cold outside, we weren’t sure where we could do it. I can’t remember how we decided to pick a local parking garage as “our place”. We would run up through the garage to stay out of the wind and cold, and then we would work out on the lower, empty level. As a personal trainer, I had some basic equipment that I would bring and we would all get some core and upper body exercises done. Most of us now get our workouts in various gyms around the county. But that garage is still a place for hill work when the weather gets bad.
At that point, we had been together for over a year and decided we needed a group name. “Garage Girls” seemed fitting because, not only were we training in a garage, we were diverse like various things you would find in a garage. We are strong and tough and each have our unique personalities and skills. Our motto, “Garage Girls go…..!, summed us up succinctly and accurately. We would go get lost on our runs, we would go for coffee, ice cream and workouts, all while especially encourage each other to keep going!
Our group, which started in 2011, still exists today. These women are some of my closest friends and will be life long friends! I think the rest of the group would say the same. We all support each other and keep each other going no matter what life throws at us. It is certainly not a closed group, as we manage to “collect” more people along the way.
Charm City Run has been a constant for our group. The running coaches are fantastic! They give so much support and energy to new and experienced runners. I had no idea, at the time, what a treasure I had found.: a group of runners and their families, who have now become part of my family and a constant source of support and friendship.
Running: so much more than exercise!