This women’s month I wanted to inspire all you ladies reading this with the incredible real life women doing great things out there. It makes me so happy to see how many examples are out there of women just killing it, both personally and professionally.
We start right here at home with a women’s running crew named ‘The Pack’ started by a woman with a vision to get more ladies moving and break down any barriers that may be holding them back from getting onto the road and running. Her name is Zonke Mthethwa and she is the founder of ‘The Pack’. The running crew was recently thrust into the spotlight when Nike Women was inspired by the amazing work they were doing and included the founding members of ‘The Pack’ as part of their Nike Visionairs.
Nike was celebrating a group of visionary women in its Air VaporMax campaign, ladies who were reshaping sports and fusing it with culture. The Pack are definitely doing all of that.
Zonke said she identified the gap for a ladies only running crew,”I was speaking to women over the space of two years and they were saying ‘we want to run, but for xyz reasons, we don’t feel comfortable, it’s not a space we feel is inclusive for us’. There are a lot of novice runners and I think going out for your first run in a space where you have more seasoned runners it’s very daunting. We wanted to create a community where first-timers can feel comfortable, where they can get the support they need, the encouragement they need, to A-start running and B-to keep running.”
‘The Pack’ was started in April 2017 and has been growing from strength to strength and is already 50 women strong, ladies getting together to move and encourage one another – no matter their fitness level or abilities.
I asked Zonke what would be her message to women daunted by the thought of starting to run, this is what she said,”My message would be to get started, literally lace up and go, that’s all you can do and it’s the most empowering thing you can do for yourself, cause once you do that nothing is impossible, just get started – go for a 1k run, 2k run, whatever feels comfortable for you, you’ll get stronger with every single run you go out for.”
What I love about this club is that it is women supporting women. All too often, women are intimidated by one another which results in them working against one another and not together – this running group is promoting the exact opposite which is very exciting.
You can contact ‘The Pack’ and find out about their next run via their social media platforms:
Instagram: @thepackjhb
Facebook: The Pack JHB
They run every Wednesday and Thursday and then do a bi-monthly 7am run in different parts of Jozi.
Photography: Courtesy of Nike
Wardah
Happy Healthy Fabulous
