Gina Lucrezi: Running Toward Equity, Establishing Trail Sisters

Gina Lucrezi started to take note of the preferential treatment that the boys got in sports in high school. Her consciousness around this grew over time and combined with her love of running and her experiences in the running industry ultimately developed into her founding the women's trail running and hiking community Trail Sisters. In this episode, Gina tells the story completely in her own voice. 

Gina discovered an interest in running early on and her talent for the sport was recognized by the high school running coach. The coach was onto something: Gina set a school record in the mile and set numerous cross-country course records. She went on to be a champion DIII runner in college. 

Post-college, Gina began working in the sports industry, eventually focusing on the outdoor run/hike space. She also discovered a love of trail running and racing, which ultimately led her to becoming a sponsored athlete. All along the way, Gina continued to take note of the preferential treatment male runners and racers received, in every facet of the trail running world. After numerous efforts to create change within the system, she decided to create to something herself. 

Trail Sisters was born. What started as a passion project at Gina's kitchen table quickly grew to a large community of women who share experiences and support to get out on the trails. Over the past six years, Trail Sisters has developed into a leading voice in the trail running and hiking industry, helping establish a space that values and includes women. 

Gina emphasizes that the power of the community is rooted in the collective efforts of all of the individuals who have been involved in Trail Sisters, in whatever capacity that is: "I feel like we're very powerful when we work together and we support each other," says Gina. 

This episode is sponsored by The Feed, the largest online marketplace for your sports nutrition, offering the brands you know and love, from Skratch Labs, Clif Bar, to Maurten, plus their athlete customized supplements called Feed Formulas. In addition to supporting Strides Forward, this sponsorship supports Hear Her Sports and Keeping Track: together we are a collective of women-hosted podcasts focused on women in sports.

As part of this sponsorship, you can get $80 in credit at The Feed: just go to TheFeed.com/forward to claim your $80 in credit at The Feed.

Ways to Keep Up with Trail Sisters

The Trail Sisters website: TrailSisters.net

Trail Sisters on Instagram: trail_sisters

Ways to Connect and Engage with Women's Running Stories

Instagram: @womensrunningstories

Twitter: @WomenRunStories

Website: womensrunningstories.com

Email host Cherie: clouiseturner@gmail.com

Women's Running Stories is a member of the Evergreen network: https://evergreenpodcasts.com/