In this episode of the Tough Girl Podcast, we speak with Dena Lewis, a dedicated runner and advocate for women's safety based in Florida, USA. Dena shares her 20-year journey in running, which began as a way to manage stress after college and evolved into a lifelong passion.

Dena's dedication to running is evident in her meticulous planning and commitment, including her morning routine of fasted runs, coffee, and early starts. Where she runs between 10 and 12 miles per day, 6 days a week.

Safety has been a significant concern for Dena, who often runs in the early hours of the morning. She has faced harassment and assault while running, leading her to create Running Mate—an innovative app designed to pair runners with companions for safer runs. Launching in April 2024, Running Mate aims to make running safer for women across the U.S., with plans to expand globally.

Dena’s experience with violence has driven her to become an advocate for women's safety, culminating in the creation of the Female Runner Safety Summit. Through her advocacy, Dena hopes to bring awareness to the dangers women face and foster a safer environment for her daughters and all women.

Join us as Dena shares her story of resilience, empowerment, and her mission to make the world a safer place for female runners. Learn about her journey, the creation of Running Mate, and her advice for women looking to start their running journey.

This episode has been marked as explicit. Please be aware that the topic of assault comes up during this conversation; while we don't discuss it in detail, some listeners may find it triggering.

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Show notes

Being based in Florida, USA
Being a runner for over 20 years
Married to her best friend and having 2 older daughter
Looking for ways to deal with her stress and picking up running after college
Getting into cycling after running
How her fitness journey has progressed over the years
Running for health, fitness and wellbeing
Learning what works for her with regards to running
Not being able to fit in run clubs
Running all distances from 5k to ultra marathons
Running between 10 to 12 miles per day, 6 days per week
Her favourite distance being a half marathon
Wear and tear, trainers, recovery, fuelling…
Why 10/12 miles per day!
Living with a certain level of pain at all times
Being a consistent runner
Not liking to run on a treadmill and preferring to run outside
The morning routine
Being a fasted runner and drinking coffee
Leaving at 5am and being gone for approx 2 hours
Planning her day around her run
Getting her blood checked on a regular basis
Ending up in the ER with chest pains
Seeing a heart doctor once a year to have a check up
Running in the early morning and experiences fear
Am I safe - what’s around me
Being harassed while running on a regular basis and being assaulted twice
Creating Running Mate —an on demand running app (think of Uber for runners)
How running mate works
Having no experience in tech, finding a developer and starting to work on the project in April 2021
Launching in April 2024 in 3 very specific cities in the US
Beta testing since January 2024
Running with other people
Female runner safety summit
The running mates get paid
Bringing awareness to the violence against women
Wanting to make it a safer world for her daughter
Brining companies together which has a mission to improve women’s safety
Wanting to expand the app world wide within a year
Following and support running mate online
Final words of advice for other women who want to get out there and get running
Talk to someone and get help if you need support
Only talking about the first assault recently
Choosing not to report it
Having the perpetrator show up on her door step
Stopping running
Living in fear and how it impacted her day to day life with her family
Moving away from the area and starting to feel safe again
Sharing her story to let other women know that they are not alone
Being in denial for a while
Working through PTSD, the trauma, the event and start seeing the other side
Not becoming an advocate straight away
Taking time to focus on herself and her family
Connecting with other women who had been through a similar thing
Getting back to running again and feeling a sense of empowerment
Getting angry when it happened a second time
Why we need advocacy and change

Social Media

Website: www.getrunningmate.com

Instagram: @getrunningmate

Facebook: @getrunningmate

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