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Women Run The World - a women's network helping traveling women find running partners.
Worldwide network helping women travelers find running partners.
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Chicago, IL, Illinois group runs and running routes for travelers
Hong Kong, China group runs and running routes for travelers
Los Angeles, CA, California group runs and running routes for travelers
London, England group runs and running routes for travelers
New York City, NY, New York group runs and running routes for travelers
Philadelphia, PA, Pennsylvania group runs and running routes for travelers
San Francisco, CA, California group runs and running routes for travelers
Toronto, Canada group runs and running routes for travelers
Washington, DC group runs and running routes for travelers
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About Us

Welcome to Women Run The World.com (WRW), the global, women's running network that helps women find great places to run, and running partners, all over the world!

If you want more information or have further questions, please Contact Us.

1. What is Women Run The World.com?
WRW is a global community of women runners and walkers designed to help women find running partners when they are traveling. Launched in the fall of 2007, WRW was founded on the premise that women run better and safer together.

On the message boards, you can:

  • Find (and share) great running routes around the world & upcoming races and other events;
  • Connect with other WRW members to meet up for a run or walk at your destination;
  • Find (and share) group runs sponsored by local running clubs.

WRW will also set up temporary message boards for you to meet up with other attendees of your professional conference or event. And coming soon - message boards for university alumni to meet up with each around the world!

If you are interested in either of these features, please contact us.

2. What about safety concerns when posting to the message boards and meeting up for a run?
Like other social networking websites, WRW uses phpBB message board technology. With this message board, neither your name nor your email address is displayed when you post to the message board. You can choose to respond to individual postings privately, and then only the recipient will see your email address. And when other WRW members respond to your posting privately, you will see their email addresses.

When you arrange to meet another WRW member for a run, as with any time you meet someone for the first time, meet in a public place and use common sense. Hotel lobbies, cafes, and coffee shops are good meeting places. Don't give strangers your hotel room number or let them into your hotel room. Same goes with your home address. Do bring identification and some money with you. Always let somebody know where you are going, even if it's your hotel concierge. Familiarize yourself with the general layout of the neighborhood where you'll be running/walking and know your running route beforehand by using the information and tools on WRW.

Trust your instincts. If upon first meeting your WRW partner(s) are not what you expected, or show up with other people who you had not anticipated, it's better to play it safe and return to the hotel gym. Report anything unusual to WRW at our Contact Us page, and WRW will promptly investigate and take the appropriate action.

Here's an example of how it works:

You will be traveling from your hometown in England to vacation in San Francisco, California. You are traveling: (a) alone; (b) with a friend/partner/spouse/colleague who doesn't run; or (c) with small children and partner/spouse. You know that one of the first things you'll want to do after that excruciatingly long 12-hour flight is stretch your legs and breathe fresh air with a run or walk. You prefer not to run alone. Before you leave on your trip, from the Women Run The World website, you join the WRW message boards and post a message in the U.S. West Coast forum, Running Partners & Places to Run sub-forum. You get a few responses emailed privately to your email account and arrange to meet a California WRW member in the lobby of your downtown hotel. The two of you enjoy a beautiful weekday run along the waterfront and across the Golden Gate.

If you prefer to join a group run sponsored by a local running club or shop, you can also find out about those regularly scheduled runs through WRW's destination pages and message boards.

3. Why do we need another social networking website?
More women are running than ever before, and we use running as more than a form of exercise. Women increasingly look to group runs for socializing, counsel, reflection, stress reduction, job and parenting advice, networking, and building confidence. Plus, more women are also traveling on business than ever before. According to a recent survey, women hold fifty percent of managerial and professional jobs and are estimated to account for nearly the same percentage of business travelers. Yet, women who travel are often left with two unpleasant alternatives: hitting the treadmill in a dreary hotel gym or running solo through an unfamiliar city, often in the early darkened hours before the business day begins. If we only had a way to connect with other women travelers (who may be attending the same business conference or meeting) or with local residents who could show us the sights during the run, the tedium of the hotel gym and the security concerns of running alone would be things of the past. WRW provides a solution.

4. What are the benefits of joining WRW?
Membership in WRW is good for the body, mind, and soul. It gets women travelers up and running, helps them to shake off the jet lag, stretch their muscles, and breathe fresh air. By providing an engaged local community of running partners, WRW allays any concerns about, or boredom with, running solo. WRW also offers a fun and effective way for women to make social and professional connections, to explore interesting new places, and to share in a global exchange of community and good will.

5. How did the idea for WRW come about?
I was traveling to China in the spring of 2004 with my husband and two-year-old daughter. After arriving in Hong Kong on a direct flight from Newark, I wanted nothing more than to shake off the effects of the 16-hour flight by a long run through the beautiful Hong Kong neighborhood where we were staying. I wanted to experience the sights, smells and sounds of the city through the sensory immersion that only a good urban run can provide. But I was reluctant to set out on my own through such an unfamiliar city, and my husband had to stay with our two-year-old. What I wanted was an online global community of female running partners. I knew about the Journey Woman travel website, in which women all over the world help other female travelers, and I was sorry that I hadn't thought to connect with some women in Hong Kong through that website before my trip. I tried to call the American embassy in Hong Kong to see if there were any ex-pats who would be interested in going for a run with me, but my timing was off and I couldn't coordinate anything at the last minute. Sadly, for lack of companionship, I gave up on the idea of a run in Hong Kong (although, as men often do, my husband went on his own).

Since then, from my home in Philadelphia, I have traveled to attend several professional conferences and try to connect online with running companions beforehand, most of whom I have never met before. I found that these runs were the perfect way to meet other people from across the country who are attending the same conference-and I likely never would have had the opportunity to have such meaningful conversations with these people through the conventional means of conference meetings and group luncheons.

I decided to move from idea to execution, and Women Run The World.com was officially launched at the end of 2007. Here's hoping a vibrant and strong community develops. May the girls be with you.

— Amy M., founder