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Every step was a victory. Every
breath was inspirational.
The
picture above was at our last run for
2008-2009 on June, 6th at Lake Baldwin in
Winter Park. Special thanks to OWR
volunteers. As a group we ran 50,000
miles.
"Dear OWR
Members,
What a
wonderful group of women I've had the honor
to meet & run with. Everyone is an
inspiration to me and got me going every
Saturday for 37 weeks straight at 5 am.
I didn't know what would happen with OWR
when I first started it. Having just
delivered my 2nd daughter four months prior,
I wasn't even sure if I could even run
around the block myself.
On the very
first kick-off run, I was so nervous and
wasn't sure if anyone would even show up.
I didn't even know if I could finish the 4
mile course. I did finish the 4 mile
course even though I was the very last one
to finish. Several of the OWR runners
who finished early ran back out on the
course to finish with me. I knew at
that moment we had the right group to run
in. People helping others.
I'm amazed at
the wide mix of runners. We have
beginners to women who are finishing at the
top of running events. Even though the
experience level is wide, the values and
friendship are equal. We've had
children and their mommies out running in
joggers. We've had mother's and
daughters. We've had sisters and best
friends come out. There are doctors,
professors, teachers, bakers, entrepreneurs,
news reporters, stay at home moms, clothes
designers, musicians, political activists,
amazing singers, and many other walks of
lives that are part of OWR.
Some hard
facts. We have 780 members as of the
end of our first season. 4.5 Million page
visits to our website. As a group we
all ran 50,000 total miles.
Participated in over 30 running events
including national runs such as the Nike San
Francisco Marathon and Boston Marathon.
I've met many
women who were concerned that they couldn't
even run a mile. And guess what?
They proved themselves wrong. Not only
could they run a mile, they participated in
local and national running events. Way
to go!
I want to
thank Joanna S, Lisa B, and Tina
C for their dedication towards the
weekly group runs. Not only are they
runners, they are wonderful people.
There were also countless volunteers through
out the seasons that I want to thank a
million times. Angel, Jean, Kelly T,
Sultana, Jackie, Ali, Erica, Jessica and
Shannon - your dedication and
commitment rocks!
The next
season, our 2nd season, our amazing next
group run starts in September '09. Enjoy
your summer. Just because the group
running schedule is done for the summer
doesn't mean you have to hang up your shoes.
Keep running but please stay safe and
hydrated.
I'll miss you
all even though it's just 2 1/2 months till
we meet again.
Let's Run,
~Wendy" |
