Nike Outrun: Run Unleashed - The first all-girls college race

The session started with the emcee introducing a rap artist and a beat boxer, who got the crowd all excited and rocking to their beats. I was on next for the Zumba warm-up. As I interacted with the crowd, I could feel their energy levels seeping into me and creating an electric atmosphere. What a crowd; how they loved the warm-up and how they moved. After a quick warm-up, it was time for us to get into the run.

There was a mad energy at the start line. The plan was for the five of us to pace different groups. Two pacers were to start at the time of flag off, two were to start about three minutes later and this time, I would be the last to begin. And this was the first time that I had to keep my competitive nature in check, and it seemed like a fun prospect.

I bought up the rear and met so many girls who were walking, encouraged them to break into a run, ran along with them, chit-chatted, gave them tiny goals to achieve and generally had a complete blast.

Words simply cannot do the experience justice. It’s one thing to achieve a personal best in a race and then you have an experience like this one. It really is amazing when you run for someone else and your words and tiny actions motivate another to do something they did not think they were capable of to begin with. Both give you a sense of joy and satisfaction, but both of these feelings are completely incomparable.

It was a fantabulous experience. There were so many first timers and most of them were out of their comfort zone but making such an effort to complete this race. It made me proud. The top three finishers completed the run close to each other and in about 12 minutes flat, which is brilliant timing.

For me though, each girl there giving her all to complete that 3k distance was a winner. One girl had kidney stones but was running in spite of the pain, a few were overweight but were running with all that they had, and there were just so many of such heroic stories all around – filled with positivity and contentment – and I totally loved it.

In keeping with the latest Nike theme of “Pushing your limits”, the run was followed by a 1K Treadmill Challenge. The challenge saw a lot of the girls come up and participate in this attempt to push their limits.

All the while, there was a DJ spinning out some very hip and fun tunes as part of the uber-awesome after party. For those that can relate, it was quite like MTV Grind from back in the day with the only difference being that the participants were in running gear – some were on the treadmill, some dancing on the stage, some dancing in front of the stage, some cooling themselves off in front of the water misting fans, and everyone cheering on the participants that had undertaken the challenge.

The energy emanating from the crowd was just mindboggling. These girls are sold on running and I know this for a fact. A lot of them came and spoke to me and shared their experience of how wonderful they felt and how they wanted to keep going.

That is exactly what the intention of the event was. A great introduction to running for these newbies and I feel so blessed to have been a part of it. Thank you Nike and go girl power!