I like to think of the concept of Kicking Ass Gently as the Statue of Liberty of the running and fitness community. Whereas our Lady Liberty openly embraces the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, we here at Kicking Ass Gently openly embrace the tired, poor, injured masses yearning to run free.

Running is hard. Finding people with real struggles should be easy, but that too, proves to be hard. I’m in a dozen Facebook groups for trail runners with almost all of the activity being lead by those who are stronger and more capable runners. Many are ultra-marathoners and create group events for things like an “Easy 20-miler.” I was beginning to feel like I was out of my league or worse! …that I’m not a runner, because I’m not able to train to that level. The average runners are silent and intimidated. And I figured that needed to change.

Kicking Ass Gently came about from my desire to get out and be active as a 40+ year old woman with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, hip impingment, and lower back osteoarthritis (Yup, I’m a hot mess!). I’m in and out of physical therapy and on and off with medications. We are out there, running community!! The silent majority who train for 5K, 10K, and half-marathon races. We are the injured and recovering. We are the overweight and the elderly. We are the fit and active. We are the young beginners and everything in between. We are the cruise control on the Cadillac, happily trotting our way along in the mid to the back of the pack.

If you are training for an ultra-marathon, good on you! We welcome you as well since kicking ass gently applies to all levels of running. We encourage all runners to train in a way that begins and ends with listening to our bodies. It is all about training as hard as you can without going too far or pushing too hard in order to stay injury free and healthy.

Welcome to Kicking Ass Gently.