It was so great to meet many of you and reconnect with our alumni runners at our first team meeting leading up to the 2024 Boston Marathon. For those of you from afar, or who could not make it, we wanted to officially welcome you to our team!
This is a very special year for you to be on our team while we “Celebrate 10 years of Stepping Strong” and recognize a decade of innovation and progress. During the season you will have a chance to learn more about our research and programs that will make you educated ambassadors and successful fundraisers. So, we encourage you to reach out to us and take part in all that we offer. We look forward to getting to know you and helping you on your journey from Hopkinton to Boston. We are truly honored that you have 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 daughter, Gillian.
As we head into the Thanksgiving weekend, we just wanted to say how grateful we are for each of you. Your dedication to training, running, fundraising, and spreading awareness about our mission to transform trauma care means the world to us. We wish you a Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, food, and laughter. With all your running, you get to enjoy the feast– guilt free!
Congrats to our winners of the Revere Hotel Boston Common hotel room chance drawing who were notified via email this morning! For those of you still looking to book accommodations, click here to check out Marathon Tours list of hotels. Airbnb and Vrbo are great alternative options.
#GivingTuesday: 11/28
Giving Tuesday is an extraordinary opportunity for donors to support their favorite charities. If you plan to take advantage of this day, make sure to start the planning process by building a list of potential supporters – the donor tracking excel is a great tool from the portal! Are you going to see any relatives this Thanksgiving? Write them down! Think through how you will ask for their support (i.e., email, phone call, written letter, social media, or a combination), and populate their contact information into the donor tracking excel.
As a reminder, the teammate who raises the most money on #GivingTuesday via TeamRaiser, will receive a certificate for an overnight hotel stay at the Revere Hotel! All runners who raise $500+ will be entered into a chance drawing for Stepping Strong swag.
When: November 28th from 12am until 11:59pm
Where: Your personal TeamRaiser page
Questions? Email marathonteam@bwh.harvard.edu
Brigham Running Team Thanksgiving Weekend Hours
In honor of the Thanksgiving Holiday, we will not be accessible from 5pm Wednesday, November 22 until 8am on Monday, November 27. Make sure to check out the runner portal for all your needs and email marathonteam@bwh.harvard.edu with any questions that will be answered on Monday.
On behalf of our team and the Brigham, we wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!
Our team has several things happening and we couldn’t be more excited to have the season underway! Make sure to read this email in its ENTIRETY and let us know if you have any questions!
Saturday, December 16: First team training run
Did you receive Coach John’s email yesterday?! We hope you did and are getting excited! If you did not, please click here to read the email he sent and then click here to subscribe to his newsletter. If you are planning ahead, you can see the group long run and hill schedule by clicking here. Make sure to mark your calendar for the longest run of the season on March 16!
Last chance to enter our Hotel Room Chance Drawing
You have until 11/20! Add your name (1 entry per runner) to be entered into a chance drawing for one of ten hotel rooms at the Revere Hotel Boston Common. We can’t recommend this hotel enough and we host all marathon weekend events there! You can submit your name by clicking HERE!
#GivingTuesday: 11/28
Giving Tuesday is an extraordinary opportunity for donors to support their favorite charities. If you plan to take advantage of this day, make sure to start the planning process by building a list of potential supporters – the donor tracking excel is a great tool from the portal! Think through how you will ask for their support (i.e., email, phone call, written letter, social media, or a combination), and populate their contact information into the spreadsheet.
As a reminder, the teammate who raises the most money on #GivingTuesday via TeamRaiser, will receive a certificate for an overnight hotel stay at the Revere Hotel! All runners who raise $500+ will be entered into a chance drawing for Stepping Strong swag.
When: November 28th from 12am until 11:59pm
Where: Your personal TeamRaiser page
Questions? Email marathonteam@bwh.harvard.edu
Marathon Sports Shopping Week
What: Exclusive 15% discount for our team (excluding electronics)
When: December 4 – 10
Where: Marathon Sports, 671 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
How: Go to the store and mention you’re a teammate. If you are unable to make it to the store, buy online! We will send an online code soon to use at checkout up until 12/10 at 12pm. This code is only for members of the Stepping Strong team and should not be shared with family members or friends. The code is limited to one use per customer.
KEEP FUNDRAISING! Reminder all teammates who raise $3,000 by November 30 will receive a custom Stepping Strong wicking long sleeve shirt or crewneck sweatshirt for our first fundraising milestone!!
IMPORTANT: If you are expecting a matching gift, check, Donor Advised Fund (DAF) gift, or have concerns or questions please email marathonteam@bwh.harvard.edu ASAP.
To increase your fundraising success, don’t forget to:
Ask EVERYONE! And make sure to follow up! Remember, no response does not mean no.
THANK your supporters!
Sports Medicine Assistance
If you need an appointment, please click here to fill out our in-take form. Please note this form is not to be used for emergencies. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please dial 911 immediately.
Don’t forget to send us your photos!
Stretching/preparing to run, training/running outside & inside, in your Stepping Strong gear, and selfies & “point-of-view” shots are encouraged! Email to marathonteam@bwh.harvard.edu or text to 857 523 8052!
Thank you to those who attended the team meeting! It was great to see so many teammates in-person and virtually…WHAT A TEAM! From near and afar, there were over 70 of us gathered to kick off the season and we couldn’t be more excited!
If you were unable to join us, or want a copy, click here to review the meeting PowerPoint. There is a plethora of information, and we really encourage you to spend the time going through, RSVPing where needed and making sure you are set up for success.
RSVP for ONE small team gathering with the Reny’s (first come, first served) – links are on slide 36.
If you are looking for a hotel room, you can be entered into a chance drawing for one of our limited rooms at the Revere Hotel on slide 37. The cost is the responsibility of the runner.
Mark your calendar for other meetings and events found on slide 38.
Make SURE to get your fundraising preparation started for #GivingTuesday and our team fundraising challenge! Details are on slide 50.
Hello from the Reny Family! We are so excited to officially welcome you to the 2024 Brigham Stepping Strong Marathon Team. We 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.
This year is especially meaningful as it marks 10 years since our family founded the Stepping Strong Center. We could never have imagined that in ten years we would grow from just 14 marathon runners to 140+ team members, opened a physical center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, funded 57 teams of physician-scientists, launched 3 educational fellowships to train the next generation of surgeons and care providers, started an injury prevention program, and raised more than $27 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 33 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, Dr. Matt Carty and his revolutionary Ewing/AMI Amputation procedure. Seven of these patients have participated on our Stepping Strong running teams, completing the B.A.A. 5K, Boston Marathon, B.A.A. 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 THIS SATURDAY, November 4. We will also host small team gatherings 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 15, 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.
