CONGRATULATIONS! We are so excited to once again welcome you to the 2025 Brigham Stepping Strong Marathon Team and support you every step of the way! Please take a moment to read this email carefully to ensure you have all the essential information to kick off your marathon season 😊

Marathon Team Runner Portal

• Details: The runner portal is your one stop shop for everything you need to be successful throughout the season! Take some time to explore all the resources available to help you feel confident in everything you do. There are notable mission moments on the home screen with some great info about the center. The fundraising tab includes steps to submit a matching gift, the donations overview and toolkit to help you answer all questions about online, cash, check donations, DAF’s, along with our non-profit 501c3/EIN/tax ID form, a calendar of events and MORE!
• Link: http://marathon.bwhevents.org/

RSVP for the Stop the Bleed Virtual Training

• Details: The Stepping Strong Center invites you, along with any family, friends, or donors, to join Cheryl Lang on November 21 at 6pm EST for a virtual training on how to empower participants to effectively control traumatic bleeding by applying pressure, packing a wound, and utilizing tourniquets. Feel free to share with your network too!
• Link: https://marathon.bwhevents.org/event/stop-the-bleed-virtual-training/

RSVP for the Post-Run Bagel Social after the first team training run

• Details: Make sure to mark your calendar for the first long run of the season on December 14 and join us after your run back at Joint Ventures for bagels!
• Link: https://marathon.bwhevents.org/event/first-saturday-training-run-post-run-bagel-social/

Coach John Information

• Details: Bookmark Coach John’s website for more information and to keep up to date on the training schedule. Make sure you are signed up to receive weekly email updates, which are separate from our emails, to keep you informed, educated, and motivated for this season’s Boston Marathon training. Click here to subscribe to his newsletter, and don’t forget to mark your calendar for the longest run of the season on March 22!
• Link: http://www.furey262.com/training-schedule–programs.html

Join Strava

• Details: Join our group to be a part of the 2025 Stepping Strong family from near and far! Post photos, ask teammates questions, introduce yourself – just have FUN!
• Link: https://www.strava.com/clubs/bwh2025

Customize Your TeamRaiser

• Details: Check out how to personalize your page with a photo, story, and more!
• Link:  https://marathon.bwhevents.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/video1923027409.mp4

Submit Your Photos

• Details: Submit your photos on the Runner Portal! Stretching/preparing to run, training/running outside & inside, in your Stepping Strong gear, and selfies & “point-of-view” shots are encouraged!
• Link: https://marathon.bwhevents.org/event/submit-your-runner-photos/

Reminder: See you at the First Team Meeting!!

• Details: Join us in-person or virtually for the first team hybrid meeting on Saturday, November 23, 2024, from 11:30am-1:30pm to meet your fellow teammates and hear from the Reny family, team coach John Furey, and the Brigham Running Team. If you are unable to join us either way, no worries! We will email out the meeting PowerPoint link after the meeting and will be happy to connect 1:1 with you.
• Link: https://marathon.bwhevents.org/event/team-meeting-1-hybrid/

Questions?

• Our email is always open for you and your donors! Email marathonteam@bwh.harvard.edu for questions, concerns, or anything you need! This is the fastest way to reach a member of our team who will support you.

SAVE the below cell phone numbers for both Ali and Ally! Feel free to text us your names so we have them before the first meeting! Alumni runners, please note these numbers are NEW and have changed since previous seasons.

• Ali Luthman Wheeler: 857 505 1225
• Ally Hickey: 857 523 8052

From start to finish,

Ali, Ally, and Caroline

P.S. Breaking up is hard, but if your plans have changed and you can no longer run with us, please let us know ASAP.

Dear Stepping Strong Marathon Team,

Hello from the Reny Family! We are so excited to officially welcome you to the 2025 Brigham Stepping Strong Marathon Team and can’t wait to meet you in the months ahead at our team meetings, runs, gatherings and Marathon Weekend. We are so honored that you have all chosen to run and support The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation and the work we are doing to transform outcomes for trauma patients like our precious daughter, Gillian.

We could never have imagined that, in eleven years, we would grow from just 14 marathon runners to 140+ team members, and that we have now opened a physical center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, funded 69 teams of physician-scientists, trained 14 fellows to become the next generation of trauma leaders, started a Stepping Strong Emergency Response Training program, and raised nearly $30 million! It is truly amazing—and proves that hope and goodness can emerge from even the most awful tragedy. We are also proud to say that we are already changing lives with Stepping Strong-funded research. There are 63 individuals who have regained their mobility and are living their lives in ways that they never dreamed were possible thanks to our inaugural Stepping Strong Innovator Award and Breakthrough Award recipient, Dr. Matt Carty and his revolutionary Ewing/AMI Amputation procedure. Seven of these patients have participated on our Stepping Strong running teams, completing the Boston 5K, Boston Marathon, Boston 10K, and Falmouth Road Race.

We can’t wait to get to know you. The team is large, so it may take a while, but please know, it means so much to us to develop a friendship with each of you, so keep on introducing yourselves and reaching out. We hope to see many of you at the first team meeting NEXT SATURDAY, November 23. We will also host small team gatherings in our home in February and there will be other social events and surprises along the way that we hope will make your marathon experience extra special.

You are runners of all ages from across the globe with incredible personal stories that brought you to our team, and we are so inspired by each of you. With your gritty determination, you have made this year’s Stepping Strong team one of our best yet.  We are confident that if we all “Step Strong” together from now until April 21, everyone will cross their finish line with great pride in knowing that we have accomplished something extraordinary—as individuals and collectively for the benefit of others.

With heartfelt gratitude,  

Audrey, Steven, Danielle, Kyle, Gillian, Matt and our newest member, baby Elyse!