Runner in Red workshop
on Long Island in
collaboration with
National Charity League
Bronx workshop with Fordham
and a group of Bronx schools
Runner in Red: 5K Map for Health and
Resiliency
Learn how to apply your strengths from sports to perform at your peak,
achieve goals and meet challenges in sports, school and life!
REGISTER FOR THE GARDEN CITY, NY WORKSHOP ON
November 22!
The Garden City, NY chapter of National Charity League (NCL) joined with the Runner in Red Foundation, the Family and Children’s Association and author, Tom Murphy, in October, 2024 to introduce the Runner in Red workshop series, with its innovative approach to supporting teen resiliency.
The workshop teaches teens in junior high through high school how to tap their strengths from sports and set themselves on a pathway to health, resiliency and success in life.
Following that launch, the Runner in Red Foundation partnered with Fordham’s Center for Community Engaged Learning to expand the program to teens in the Bronx with a workshop in November, 2025. That session set the groundwork for broader expansion, which included offering Runner in Red workshops for National Charity League in Boston, MA and Tucson, AZ and (soon) to the larger community in Garden City, NY.
Beyond that, Runner in Red will be working with Dick’s Sporting Goods and Macerich on additional expansions.
Murphy is the author of the Boston Marathon novel, “Runner in Red,” a story that explores the courage, determination and grit of women runners who broke the gender barrier at Boston in the 1960s and 70s. They paved the way for women to participate in all sports today.
The stories serve as a lead in to a five-step process called “Runner in Red 5K Map for Health and Resiliency” that guides teens to create a “map” for physical and mental health. In the workshop, participants learn how to identify strengths, including values and skills, they learn from sports, then in small group discussions they explore how to apply those strengths as “tools” to perform at the peaks in school, sports – and life. Most importantly, the program is designed to make learning fun!
Mentors, including educators and adults with sports backgrounds, provide feedback as the workshop shows the teens how to match values and skills listed in the workbook to their own experiences of riding the ups and downs of sports participation.
Research underscores that teens who are physically active, either by playing sports or by engaging in any physical activity – such as dance, gymnastics, etc. develop strong mental health habits.
Teens who’ve taken Runner in Red workshops to date have confirmed they had fun, or as one young lady wrote on her post survey, “The workshop made me feel validated since I saw others have the same feelings as I do.” Another added, “The workshop helped me realize I’m not alone.”
The Runner in Red Foundation is sponsored by Hilton Capital Management of Garden City. Other business leaders, Macerich and Dick’s Sporting Goods, have joined to help in planning for expansion.
As a follow up to the Runner in Red workshop, soon the program will offer participants a chance to enter their ACTION PLANS from their workbook to showcase how they are using their values and skills from sports to move forward. Below, this is what the submission form will look like:
Submit your Runner in Red ACTION PLAN!
(Note: your Action Plan should be no more than 200 words. You can take it from the “5K” section of your Runner in Red course workbook. Tell how you are using, or have used, your values and skills from sports to perform at your peak in school, sports or life – to meet challenges or achieve goals.)
Teens, be sure to use an adult’s email address as your contact address – we’ll keep you updated through the adult email contact information you provide to us that we’ve received your submission.
NOTE: Click on the tab above to attach your document, it may not look like it’s been uploaded, but it has! Once you hit SUBMIT, you’ll see a confirmation appear.
If you have any difficulty uploading, or any question, email us at:
Thank you for participating! We hope you found the “Runner in Red” workshop experience valuable!