Greetings! You are probably here because you want to know more about the ABQ Sole Sisters! We are a friendly, competitive, and supportive group of women who run and race together in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The idea for our club was born a few years back when I started putting together teams for long distance relay races. If you aren't familiar, the long distance relay is normally a point to point course of anywhere from 80-200 miles where teams of 5-12 people complete the mileage, relay style, non-stop, over the course of 8-35 hours. I ran cross country and track in high school and have always been a runner. Let me tell you, it was such a great feeling to be running as part of a team again. It was so great, in fact, that after captaining 10 relay teams, I wanted to bring that feeling of being on a team back home with me. The nugget of an idea turned into a pretty intense brainstorm, and with a few women willing and excited to be a part of my inaugural season, the snowball started rolling! I'll bet you are now wondering how Sole Sisters works. I assign the girls to one of three teams- the Bosque Babes, the Chamisa Chicks, or the Desert Divas. I try to split the teams as fairly as possible (evenly matched between paces and planned races) at the front end of the season to ensure a great competition! Each woman scores points for her team when she races, regardless of her pace or place. In addition to individual races, we have multiple "head to head" races, which are races in town that are already established. After the race is over, I score it cross country style using all of the results from Sisters who participated, to determine the winning team. (If you aren't familiar with how a cross country meet is scored, go here.) The head to head races are worth a large portion of each team's overall score, and we have a blast running them! We have team jerseys, JENSWEATS, and tutus, which makes racing as a team THAT much more fun! The points add up throughout the season, and a winning team is crowned at the end of the season at a big sister soiree. The women on the winning team get some awesome prizes! The bottom line is that we compete with each other, while being supportive of each other. There is no room for bad attitudes or poor sportsmanship in Sole Sisters. If you see one Sister get beat by another in a race, the outcome is likely to be a congratulatory hug and a slap on the rear! Sisters always support Sisters! If you happen to be out and about and spot a Sister in her jersey, please introduce yourself and say hello! Better yet, if you are on Instagram, check out our hashtag #abqsolesisters to follow what we're up to! See you at the races! -Gwen Walker