234 | Jennifer Hubbell | Girls On The Run New Hampshire

 Join us for a fun episode with a new member of our PodFam, the exectutive director of Girls On The Run, New Hampshire, Jennifer Hubbell. We explore Jen's journey, a former college track star and the passionate leader behind Girls on the Run in New Hampshire. Discover how her personal experiences, dedication to empowering young girls, and the growth of this impactful program can motivate your own journey in sports and community service. Jen shares upcoming events like the fall and spring 5Ks, and the exciting gala (Sneaker Soiree) this fall. Discover how the organization empowers girls, fosters community involvement, and plans to expand its impact through partnerships, fundraising, and special initiatives.

Show Note Links

• Girls On The Run NH
• GOTR NH Instagram
• Donate to GOTR
• My Race Tatts Instagram

Chapters

00:00 Intro
02:52 Guest Introduction: Jen Hubble and Girls on the Run
06:43 The Ultra Team Experience
12:48 Track and Field Background
15:43 Transition to Girls on the Run
18:36 The Impact of Coaching on Young Girls
21:25 Girls on the Run History and Growth
30:41 Expansion to New Hampshire
36:33 The Upcoming Gala Event
44:13 Call for Community Support
47:45 Spring Season and 5K Event
52:14 The Role of Race Management Companies
01:03:14 Final 2 Questions Hot Take and Song
01:11:15 Outro

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Email us at OnTheRunsPod@gmail.com

Don't Fear The Code Brown and Don't Forget To Stretch!

Transcript

Eric (00:54)
What's up everybody and welcome to episode 233 of the On the Runs podcast. I hope everyone had an amazing Memorial Day weekend. You got some grilling in, maybe some drinking, maybe even a little bit of running. I hope everyone stayed dry. Has it got a little wet? Did it? I don't know. We'll find out when we come back because we're pre-recording this. But before we talk about anything else, I must say hello to my amazing kick-ass Rockstar of our co-host, six star Erica. What's up?

Erika (01:23)
What's going on? I had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. I will fill you guys in on it later, but I hope everybody had a great weekend as well.

Eric (01:28)
Did you?

We're predicting right now, because I'm like, don't want to work over Memorial Day weekend. I got a four day weekend. So we'll do a quick little intro before our amazing guests that we're about to record within two seconds anyways. I think the weather turned out okay. It was that perfect running weather, maybe a little drizzle at some points. Perfect if you're running, but if people weren't running, I'm sure they're getting a little lit this weekend because it's Memorial Day weekend and well, one, thank you everyone for your service.

And I know we never seem to celebrate that enough because we're just like, Hey, no work. Let's party. And we should remember to thank everybody.

Erika (02:07)
you

Mm-hmm.

There's a reason for the Memorial Day. Mm-hmm. Thank you, everyone.

Eric (02:14)
Yeah. But we got an amazing

guest today and we're going to be back in a couple of days to talk about the weekend and catch up. So the real trolls are going to be in a couple of days. Our amazing guest today is brought to you by our amazing sponsor, My Race Tats. Don from My Race Tats. has a lot of things going on right now. Did you see he's doing a vote? Rachel, who just won Coca-Dona. Why not me?

Erika (02:38)
Mm-hmm. Why not you? It's why not you? She was thinking why not you?

Eric (02:40)
Why not you? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It was amazing. Everyone was voting. I liked two and four, but you liked one and three. I know this is a week ago now and you guys are like, guys, you're so behind on the times, but check out Don from My Race to Hatch, link in the show notes. He's amazing. ⁓ They just signed on. You're going to learn about our summer series later. We're changing up a little bit. It's not just always going to be the same old this and that. We're going to keep things always interesting.

Erika (02:52)
you

Eric (03:10)
It's a lot of fun. Thank you so much to Don for my race tags. Check them out because you got your Chicago and your New York ones coming soon. And I feel like we have some influence because why not you? I told him, hey, Chad, the ultra runner who just ran a 50 K, not a big deal. It's like, it's missing the question mark. And Don's like, you're right. is. So our pod fam has the power. Thank you, Don. Erika real quick.

Erika (03:18)
Mm-hmm.

Hmm

you

Eric (03:39)
Do you want to introduce our guest today?

Erika (03:42)
We got to talk to this person. Her name is Jen Hubble. And we got to talk to her for the first time at the St. Patty's Day 5K and 10K live show that we did. So that was our first time meeting. And now we got Jen back for her own episode. So we're going to learn more about her, more about Girls on the Run. And we really hope you guys are going to enjoy this one.

Eric (04:00)
Yeah, guys. Enjoy Jen from Girls on the Run on the Other Runs podcast, and we'll see you quickly on the other side.

Eric (04:09)
Our next guest on the pod is someone we all met at the St. Patty's day 5k. And for the last 20 years, she's been the woman behind all the girls running in New Hampshire, all because she checked her spam folder, but that's not all. She was a college track and field star at the university of Vermont. She runs like an emu for her reach the beach ultra team. And by the way, today is her birthday. We are wicked excited to welcome Jen Hubble to the on the runs podcast. Jen, what's up?

Jen Hubbell (04:39)
This is gonna be a good time. This is so fun. Happy birthday to me.

Erika (04:43)
Yay! Happy birthday, Jen! Thank you for joining

us today, and I'm so glad that we get to see you again since the last time we got to was back in March. So what have you been up to all this time?

Jen Hubbell (04:55)
my gosh, well, definitely getting warmer. That was another cold day, another cold race for Millennium Running. ⁓ yeah, our season is winding down. Spring 2026 is coming to an end this coming Saturday at our 5K. I can't believe it. League 5K.

Erika (05:02)
Mm.

you

Eric (05:12)
Big 5K, big 5K. It's the biggest for

all the girls on the run across the country, right?

Jen Hubbell (05:20)
⁓ no. So there are 160 councils across the United States. ⁓ I'm in charge of the New Hampshire one. So our 5k is this coming Saturday. Others were last weekend, next weekend, you know, whenever they can fit them in. ⁓ yes, we will have two on Saturday. Double the fun. Yeah.

Erika (05:33)
Mmm.

Two,

Eric (05:43)
Nice.

Erika (05:43)
how

does that work logistically? That's the question, right?

Jen Hubbell (05:49)
Yeah,

it's um one launches at 8 a.m. And then another one at 11 So we split it up because we don't want these massive events for some of these girls very first 5k experience so we've hired hired the big guys to come in big girls to help us put that on with our

Your friend and mine, John Mortimer and his team. Yep. Awesome.

Eric (06:13)
Yeah.

We'll get to that soon. And for the record, everyone listening, I did not make Jen record this on her birthday, but we figured out it's dropping on her birthday. So when you're listening right now on Tuesday the 26th, it's a big one for her. I'm wicked excited and I want to get to know you a little more before we talk girls on the run. You're a New England girl. You're a track and field star. You do ultras for Reach the Beach just like Erica. So you're on the six person ultra team.

Erika (06:22)
Yup.

Hell yeah. That one is so hard.

Eric (06:43)
So tell us a little bit about Jen.

Jen Hubbell (06:46)
A little bit about Jen. Okay, so some of those things are very past tense. Like the idea of doing Reach the Beach again. I saw a friend just this past Saturday who was on my Ultra team and we were talking about that experience and we've aged a few in the past. I think we did it as an Ultra like 12 years ago maybe.

13 years ago, we were one of two all-women ultra teams the very first time we did it, and we did it three times. Yeah, we came in second. you know, we thought that was pretty awesome.

Eric (07:22)
Hey, my second

ever triathlon, came in second, and I didn't care that I was in two of two. I still got a gift card for like Millennium Running or something.

Jen Hubbell (07:28)
Thank

Erika (07:29)
It still counts.

Jen Hubbell (07:33)
Yeah, but that's a blast. Talk about team. I loved it, doing it as an ultra. You know, what a challenge. ⁓ There is one funny story, and I know I mentioned it to you, Eric, and I don't know if you want me to tell you about this now.

Eric (07:48)
⁓

let's go. Spare no details. Erika knows nothing, by the way, so this is all news to her.

Erika (07:49)
Jump right in, Jen.

Jen Hubbell (07:50)
okay. Okay, because these and these.

Erika (07:53)
This is what

I love about this. I'm like, I'm waiting on bated breath.

Jen Hubbell (07:54)
You didn't get to hear all this good stuff. So, yeah, so the first year we did the ultra, you know, we're pretty smart. We've not rented a van. We're saving cash. And we have one of the teammates ⁓ expedition that we've like tricked out as our van for it for that 24 hours plus sleeping in the back and stuff. So.

First it's in the middle of the night when it's pitch black and we pull the expedition over onto the side of the road, one of those twisty turny quiet roads, you know, probably between Guilford and wherever on the lake. And we went into a culvert.

Erika (08:28)
Mm-hmm.

No.

Jen Hubbell (08:37)
Yeah, the whole expedition on the side of the road. So we're like, dear, we can't get out. That was us. You should be mad because not only did we block the reason we blocked traffic from continuing on to the next spot to fix up their runners, we had to have a tow truck come and like back it out. And this kid couldn't have been more than 13 who was driving the tow truck. I'm not kidding you.

Erika (08:40)
⁓

Eric (08:43)
That was you! I remember that! ⁓ my god, we were so mad at you! I'm kidding.

Erika (08:46)
feel like he remembers that. Come on.

No.

Eric (09:06)
Well, that's New Hampshire.

Jen Hubbell (09:06)
But he was an

Erika (09:08)
Right.

Jen Hubbell (09:09)
engineer and a scientist and somehow he figured out how to get that big car out. But nice me, a couple other of my teammates had to walk down to all the vans who are PO'd that they can't continue on to drop off a runner and pick up a runner. Our runner ended up going like two times in a row, like 15 miles.

Erika (09:27)
you

just

had to keep going. ⁓ my gosh. that is not what you want, especially in the middle of the night on both accounts with the van and the runner. my gosh. What a, what a stressful situation for you guys.

Eric (09:36)
Now

Jen Hubbell (09:45)
It was hilarious in hindsight. Not so much then.

Eric (09:46)
Now being an, now being

an ultra team was, did you have your own designated driver or was like one of the teammates, a runner, your driver?

Jen Hubbell (09:57)
the six of us had a schedule where you drove and then you, maybe you were in the hot seat next. There were two people that would sleep in the back. Someone, the other one's running and then the other one is like keeping the driver awake or something like that. So, you know, it was very structured, but fun.

Erika (10:16)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (10:18)
Sounds safe. Yeah.

So wait, did the driver fall asleep? Did someone not do their job? How did this truck...

Jen Hubbell (10:25)
No, no,

no, no, no. That was like another one of the teammates. They were the ones that said, ⁓ you know, wake up, wake up, take this turn. If you start to doze off, you know, you get lonely.

Eric (10:34)
You

Erika (10:37)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (10:37)
It wasn't

you though. You weren't the driver.

Jen Hubbell (10:40)
⁓ no, when the the when the expedition went off, I won't name names. But it wasn't she thought she was going to get in trouble from her spouse. Let's just say so we were like kept it on the down low that this actually happened. There were no dents, no damage underneath. It wasn't me driving.

Erika (10:51)
No. no.

Eric (10:56)
What the?

Erika (11:01)
That's great news.

Eric (11:01)
that we're aware of. Yeah.

Erika (11:02)
That's great

news except for the whole debacle to begin with. ⁓ that's not what you want in the middle of a race.

Eric (11:08)
This was 12 years ago too, so like statues of limitations, you know, if this guy hears and he's like, I remember that damage underneath the expedition, honey. But my God, if this leads to a divorce 12 years later.

Jen Hubbell (11:11)
Please.

Erika (11:14)
you

They probably don't even have the expedition anymore. Let's be real.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (11:29)
I think we passed the timeframe, 12 years is long enough. You're

right, Erica. It was the Ford. So no way that Ford would have lasted that long. Yeah, no way. Not a Toyota.

Jen Hubbell (11:37)
No way. No way.

Erika (11:38)
That's funny. Isn't

that what it stands for? Found on Road Dead, I think. I've heard that. I don't have a Ford, but I don't know. People.

Eric (11:43)
That's a good one, yeah.

Jen Hubbell (11:45)
Is that serious?

Eric (11:47)
Yeah. Bound on

Road Dead or Fix or Repair Daily.

Erika (11:53)
You

Jen Hubbell (11:55)
Okay, you should learn something new every day and that's my new something today.

Erika (11:59)
That's cheeky.

Eric (11:59)
You learn don't buy

a Ford, don't buy a Chevy, don't buy a Jeep. Only buy a Jeep if it's going to be your third vehicle like a beach vehicle and you garage it and leave the doors off and the roof all year long. Can't go wrong with a Toyota or a Honda. Just pay Ford in your wallet. But we're not here to talk about cars. This isn't a Cars podcast. We're here to talk about Jen and Girls on the Run. You are also a track star.

Erika (12:09)
You

Jen Hubbell (12:10)
you

Erika (12:12)
No judgment from me, you guys. Drive what you want.

Jen Hubbell (12:25)
Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. So way back when, what, let's see if I can actually do the math. Like 44 years ago. No, wait a second. 46 years ago. Whoa. When I was a sophomore in high school, am I giving away how old I am? Do the math people. Um, yeah. So

Eric (12:48)
It's a big one today.

Erika (12:48)
29, she's 29.

Jen Hubbell (12:54)
Sophomore in high school, wasn't an athlete, was in gym class, if that's what we called it back then, I think. And one of the gym teachers said to me, know, Jenny Taylor, my maiden name, and I was Jenny back in high school, you've got very long legs. You should join the track team. I was like, really, Mr. Nault? Me? He's like, yeah, you should.

So I did and I told my family that night at dinner, you my brother and sister were the athletes. They were swimmers, not me. I was the student. ⁓ Milk literally came out my brother's nose when I shared this. Now mind you, Yeah. But who went on to be on the winter and spring track teams running the

Erika (13:33)
Mmm.

No way. that's the belief they had in you that you could be an athlete, be a runner.

Jen Hubbell (13:49)
400, well back then it was a 440. I don't know where those extra 40s went. know, 40, 440 yard dash, now we're meters. ⁓ The mile relay and it was a high jumper.

Erika (13:55)
Good question.

⁓ So when you got into this big time, what did your family start to think of you? Were they like, I shouldn't have thought of her, shouldn't have laughed, I should have kept the milk in my nose.

Jen Hubbell (14:04)
I know, I know, me. Up and over. Backwards.

But

that's it. That's it. The middle child shines. ⁓ my God, what a supportive family I have. I still think about those track meets and being in the very first event, high jump, and then the very last event, the mile relay, and my parents thick and thin under the umbrella in the winter coats, just being there. it was fantastic. And because of that very positive experience, I ended up ⁓

Erika (14:26)
Mm-hmm.

I love it.

Jen Hubbell (14:45)
going to the University of Vermont on a partial scholarship, which I was very proud of, ⁓ and ran and jumped for two years. But yeah, it was great, but it was very different. A Division experience is very different than a supportive high school team.

Erika (14:50)
Mm-hmm.

That's incredible.

I do

not know from experience, I can take your word for it. I mean, it's big time. They're all about sports.

Jen Hubbell (15:12)
Yeah.

Well, it is. And it's not just you're there for an education. You're there to perform on a sports team, and they want results. The coaches want results, and they have expectations. Being in the weight room before class, 8 AM, and then doing double workouts several times a week, it was hard. And being away from home as...

Erika (15:20)
Mm.

Eric (15:28)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (15:38)
Mm-hmm.

Jen Hubbell (15:43)
I grew up in Massachusetts and then to go to Vermont, not that far away, but still it's away from home and that whole experience. So yeah, a lot of adjustments. ⁓ But after two years being on the track team, I was like, I can't do this anymore. It was way too much. part of it was the fact that in hindsight and foreshadowing, this was like a really perfect precursor.

Erika (15:49)
enough. Yeah.

Jen Hubbell (16:13)
to being involved with girls on the run now. Yeah. So, so during one of those double workout sessions in the weight room, ⁓ one of my coaches said, Jen, I changed to Jen by then. I wasn't Jenny, got rid of the NY. It's like, hey, here. And she picks up one of those big round weight discs, you know, is that plates? That's what they're called, plates.

Erika (16:32)
you

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Jen Hubbell (16:40)
hands it to me, so give it back. So we're doing this a few times. I'm like, 10 pounds, you know, what are we doing? And when that weight was back in my hands, the coach said to me, you know, if you lost 10 pounds, I think you'd be able to get up and over that high jump bar again, the way you used to and attained those five feet, four inch heights.

and

tall 5'10", drink of water, Jen Taylor. Wow, was stepped on for the first time telling someone telling me you're not good enough. That was awful.

Erika (17:17)
Ugh.

Mm-hmm.

What was going through your mind when they told you that?

Jen Hubbell (17:26)
being judged was, uh, was bad. yeah, I, I am a perfectionist and I then at that point just felt like I am, I need to do better. You know, it was not like any kind of full blown eating disorder that developed, but there was definitely like, Oh, there, there was.

Erika (17:30)
Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Jen Hubbell (17:52)
difficulties.

Erika (17:53)
it lets

doubt creep in. You think you're doing the best you can and then your coach comes along just with this little like, by the way, you could do this. And you're like, no. But that just has mental, it just gets into you mentally and can throw off your game.

Jen Hubbell (18:03)
Yeah. no.

Well, exactly. So I'm trying to think if I started college 18, this was probably maybe the winter season of my sophomore year. So I was 19 going on 20. And yeah, a woman's body changes at that point in your life. And OK, back in 1985, the drinking age in Vermont was 18. So there was that, drinking beer and.

Erika (18:17)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jen Hubbell (18:38)
Okay, maybe there was a little extra weight, but I'm not going to apologize.

Erika (18:43)
Good. mean, going

to college anyways, like you're in charge of yourself and you get to eat whatever you want and you get to, you could work out whenever you want. But if it was anything like me, I didn't want to. So you get the quote unquote freshman 15 and, but that's just the fact that your coach mentioned something. Maybe that was not the best way to go about things. yeah.

Jen Hubbell (18:58)
yeah, yeah.

No, no in front of

your peers too and all of these other athletes were on full boat scholarships. So yeah.

Erika (19:12)
Mmm.

Eric (19:14)
It was a female coach too, because when you told me the story you never mentioned female versus male. I just assumed.

Jen Hubbell (19:18)
I didn't.

Right? No, it wasn't. It was a woman.

Erika (19:24)
Mmm.

Eric (19:25)
You said this kind of led though to like maybe a precursor to Girls on the Run. And I know eventually you graduate college, you have some kids, you didn't get involved until you get your kids involved in running, right?

Jen Hubbell (19:27)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Exactly. So way back in 2003, when my daughter was in third grade, a friend reached out and said, you have to sign her up for Girls on the Run. I'm like, what the heck is that? ⁓ So I called the executive director because I don't know why. Of course there was email back then. That's In the 1800s.

Erika (19:52)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (20:04)
It was brand new. was Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan,

Erika (20:08)
you

Eric (20:08)
You Got Mail. was exciting. Dial up internet. Finally, it connects and if you don't hear You Got Mail, it's like,

Jen Hubbell (20:10)
Yeah.

Erika (20:17)
you

Jen Hubbell (20:18)
Dear, oh

dear, oh dear. So yes, so I called to learn more about the program and I was told that they needed another coach at Stratum Memorial School. I was like, heck, I'm your girl. I run, I like it, it's part of my life now, it's always been and I would love to do it. So yeah, so I coached one season in 2003. Where was it once?

Erika (20:39)
And that's how it all started.

Jen Hubbell (20:41)
That's

how it started. Yeah, that's how I got involved. And as you mentioned in my intro, Eric, a few years went by and I was also a volunteer track coach at the Co-opered Middle School in Exeter. And after that spring season finished in 2007, I was like, oh, jeez, I really wish I did something like this that mattered full time. Boom.

Eric (21:07)
Mm-hmm.

Jen Hubbell (21:10)
Look in my spam folder. There is the job posting for Girls on the Run.

Erika (21:15)
How did it make it there? Did you put out some feelers earlier saying, oh, this might be something that I would like to do? And then it just bam went spam.

Jen Hubbell (21:25)
No.

No, I think just because Lindsay had participated in 2003 and I was in their database, they must have sent a mass e-blast to every single family that even though it's the girl that participates, they don't have emails in third grade. Maybe they do now, but not then. Times have changed. yeah. So that's how I found the job posting. Yeah.

Erika (21:42)
Times have changed.

Eric (21:52)
I just want to backtrack for a quick second

here. Massachusetts to Vermont, how do you land in Stratum, New Hampshire?

Jen Hubbell (22:02)
Yeah, so we had our son in 1990, I'm gonna screw this up, 1993. And then it was my husband who accepted a position up here in good old Rochester, New Hampshire.

a company that's no longer. But that's why we moved up from Shrewsbury, actually North Grafton is where we had our condo. So moved up from Shrewsbury to Stratum to raise our family.

Erika (22:23)
Mm.

Very nice.

Eric (22:32)
Yeah, great area. You moved up too, not

just up north, but you moved up. Yeah. Yeah.

Jen Hubbell (22:37)
up. We moved up, exactly. Never leaving New

Hampshire. And you can say never sometimes. So yeah, so that was 1994. We moved up.

Eric (22:49)
So you get the email in your spam folder. You did a little bit of girls on the run coaching. Why don't you tell us a little bit about the history of girls on the run though? think a girl named Molly started it. Maybe it started in a different, um, I think it was Charlotte, North Carolina, if I remember right. Give us a little girls on the run history. Like what did you have to learn to in your first few years as a coach and as the executive director?

Jen Hubbell (23:13)
Yeah, so just to give a little Molly Barker a little props here. She is the founder and vision keeper of Girls on the Run, which she got the light bulb of the idea back in 1993. Yep.

Erika (23:29)
So it's already

been around for 10 years by the time your daughter started.

Jen Hubbell (23:32)
Yeah, exactly.

And it came to New Hampshire, the first executive directors, there were two that kind of co-shared the position, was 2001. So Girls on the Run International, because there are locations up in Canada. So if Molly got the idea in 1993, the first team was 13 girls in 1996 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Erika (24:00)
It started small, but it took off.

Jen Hubbell (24:01)
started small. Yeah. And the whole premise behind it is Molly, you know, I reached out to her. I still have her on my cell phone. And I said, tell me your why. And I said, I know your why, but I actually, I want to read it myself. ⁓

Eric (24:19)
Is this, you did

this in prep for this show? Alright!

Jen Hubbell (24:22)
I really did.

Erika (24:23)
I love that.

Jen Hubbell (24:24)
I

really did. And if she's listening, she's gonna be like, no, Jen, because we actually didn't connect. She had a wicked busy, wicked, I sound like I'm from Massachusetts, ⁓ very, a very busy ⁓ weekend supporting some other councils with some other events. But she struggled growing up trying to be an act and do.

Erika (24:35)
No, England. You're good.

Eric (24:36)
It's a New England thing.

Jen Hubbell (24:50)
what a girl is supposed to do. Act a certain way, talk a certain way, run a certain way. Appearance wise, be a certain way. And she realized, I think she was 35 on that run that she went out on in 1993, thunderstorm a brewing in Charlotte, which I think happens almost every day there. She's like, this isn't right. Like,

Erika (25:11)
Mm.

Jen Hubbell (25:18)
If I'm struggling as a 35 year old to be fitting into this girl box.

I need to get ahead of it. I need to help young girls third, fourth, fifth grade before they enter middle school while they're still ⁓ impressionable to realize that the reflection in the mirror is the one that matters. The person inside that skin is the most important person. So her idea blossomed and literally spread.

Erika (25:38)
Mm.

Jen Hubbell (25:52)
If there were 13 girls in 1996, it hit half a million girls in 2012.

Erika (25:59)
Wow! Oh my god!

Jen Hubbell (26:02)
I

know. And I also, I didn't realize this, but I found it, 2015 Girls on the Run was in all 50 states.

Erika (26:13)
I love to see it. This is making me so happy. These are the values that we want to instill in the young girls. And I'm so happy that she came up with this idea. I hope it would have gotten there either way, but because of her, it did. And this is what we want. Just love your bodies. Be proud of what your bodies can do. Try not to let the body image thing, like outside influences, get to you. Just be yourself and...

Jen Hubbell (26:15)
Isn't that great? I know.

you

Erika (26:42)
Love what you can do.

Jen Hubbell (26:43)
It's exactly it. And it's all about health too, right? I know that one of the things where we're not trying to get away from adult because running is in our name, but it's like, would sometimes I wish, I mean, it's on my shirt, girls on the it's run, we're smaller, you know, in the tagline because it is running, but it's also forward motion.

Erika (26:46)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

Eric (27:08)
Yeah.

How do you think Molly grew it beyond 13 girls in year one? Like you said it spread, but how did she have like a ⁓ game plan of attack here? Did somebody else jump on board and say, Hey, you really got something here. Let's grow this. How do you think she expanded it for your two, three, four until around the time you joined and then over half million girls?

Erika (27:32)
I mean, it

even took three years to get the first chapter with the 13 girls, right? So you said 1993, so 1996 was the first chapter. So even that was like a good amount of time in between. So yeah, what does it take to build something like this?

Jen Hubbell (27:36)
Rub, rub, rub, right.

Sure. So you know what she did is she went to work. In three years, she developed the very first Girls on the Run curriculum. And that is also an important premise of what we do. It's not just running. It is a curriculum-led program where girls are encouraged to learn about themselves, different chapters, lessons, talk about, you know, uncomfortable feelings. ⁓

bullying, ⁓ the power of me and how important I am. Like all of that. So of course since 1996, that very first curriculum, 30 years later, it's been rewritten and the world has changed. Of course in 30 years they're celebrating their 30th this year. So like it, they had to update things with cell phones and communication and things like that. So yes, there was a ton of

Erika (28:31)
Mmm.

Jen Hubbell (28:45)
work that three years to develop that first curriculum and then how did it grow? If I were sitting in my office, Water Street in Exeter, I'm actually home right now, you would see behind me a picture of Molly Barker from Runners World Magazine. It's a black and white picture and there was an article about her and people read it and that's how Lindy Sargent, one of the first the first executive director and Lindy

Lauren Winterholer, those were the two women that started the New Hampshire Council. ⁓ They read about it and reached out to Molly.

And, you know, I was looking at a map on the girls on the run.org website earlier and just showing a timeline of things and how it's progressed. And it is remarkable to see some of the highlights that that that are our organization as an entirety this year will have served 2.7 million girls.

Erika (29:46)
Wow, that number is incredible.

Jen Hubbell (29:47)
in 30 years.

Yeah, yeah, it is, it is, and there's so much more work to do. I wish every single girl in the United States could participate at least once in her young life and then who knows maybe as a volunteer coach the next part of her life.

Erika (29:55)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (30:04)
Yeah. You know, it's cool when you get to see, because of social media today, just how large these events are. Like the one coming up in a couple days for you on the 30th. It's so large and so many girls and so many amazing coaches. Like we know a few of them, Lindsay and Jessie, and I know there's many others we know in New Hampshire too. That's so cool to see. But talk about New Hampshire now. New Hampshire started a little before you. Two other ladies took over the executive director role. They co-shared it. Did they start it?

Erika (30:09)
Mm.

Jen Hubbell (30:26)
Hmm.

Eric (30:34)
How did what Molly started in Charlotte grow to New Hampshire? Do you know their story about how Girls on the Run New Hampshire started before you?

Jen Hubbell (30:43)
Yeah, so it was Lindy. She was the one who reached out to Molly and had read the article and wanted to learn more. And I think she actually traveled down to Charlotte, North Carolina and like sat in Molly's living room. And Molly was a young mom with a son and a daughter and talking about, you know, how are we going to make this happen? And they had to do their counsel director training ⁓ to be able to know like the nuts and bolts of it. ⁓

Erika (30:55)
wow.

Jen Hubbell (31:11)
the idea of the curriculum, how to share it, how to present it. And so that was the start in 2001 with those two women. And the record keeping, it's kind of difficult to track. It's like on pieces of paper and in pencil and numbers circled and like the old archives of the Girls on the Run New Hampshire stuff. But starting in the fall of 2007,

Erika (31:30)
Mm-hmm.

Jen Hubbell (31:39)
I started keeping track of the number of girls served. that very, my very first season, there were 55 girls. And actually now that we add in just under 1500 girls for this spring season, there's closer to just over 27,000 in New Hampshire. And some, there we go. There we go. Is that, but hey, listen to that. Like internationals 2.7 and we're 27.

Erika (31:54)
Wow.

We love to see it. There we go, Jen.

Jen Hubbell (32:08)
Like there's a match there.

Erika (32:09)
Mm-hmm. There

we go.

Eric (32:11)
You know, it's getting pretty big and that will lead us to something later about how you're involving John and Millennium because you're getting a little too big. Exactly. Get a little too big for one person here. So what have you done then? You started in 2007. Well, really you were a coach in 2003. So you got to see it a little bit.

Erika (32:18)
Mm-hmm. Have to have two sessions for your big 5k.

Jen Hubbell (32:27)
Yeah.

Eric (32:32)
And I'm guessing the two co-coordinators were looking to pass the baton on to somebody else and you saw that email. you had a year of coaching. What was it that made you want to stay involved and be the executive director? Cause is your, is your daughter still involved at this point?

Jen Hubbell (32:48)
She is my top 5K volunteer. I will tell you that she coached for several seasons. And I'll tell you, it is a family affair with all of my staff members ⁓ where we bring in friends and family to help. So yes, she is still involved. And in fact, she just produced one of our newest Girls on the Run. ⁓ So we'll be able to see her, Nora someday, eight years from now running in a 5K. And I'll be there on the sidelines.

Eric (33:15)
I got

confused for a second. go what do you mean produced a new girls on the run? Congratulations Yeah

Jen Hubbell (33:19)
No

Erika (33:21)
Exactly what you think it means, Eric.

Jen Hubbell (33:23)
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now I've got like two future girls on the runs. My son has one and my daughter has one and my son and son-in-law are already thinking they should, no, one needs to start training. He joked, but they're all, they're going to be fine. They'll be fine.

Eric (33:30)
There you go.

So Girls on the Run in New Hampshire, it's two seasons, right? You got a fall and a spring. You're in your spring season. This is, from what you told me, the biggest of the two. So fall, I'm guessing, is like the girls go to school, maybe there's a flyer in the mail or that comes home. I'm Tell me how they get involved in the fall that leads to the big day in the spring.

Jen Hubbell (34:05)
So actually there are two separate seasons, fall season, spring season. And at the end of the fall season, mark your calendars, it's already scheduled, November 14th of this year, that will be this year's fall 5K event. So at the end of an eight week season, we have a 5K. So how do girls get involved? They sometimes get a flyer home.

Sometimes it comes home via email. Sometimes they read about it on a community website where we can post the opportunity. So it's kind of a chakootery board of how the information reaches a girl.

Erika (34:35)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (34:36)
Check your spam folder.

Erika (34:46)
Mmm.

Use all the

avenues. There's no wrong way to get the information out there.

Jen Hubbell (34:54)
But it is, it is hard because like in the fall season, people don't think about fall until literally the week before school starts. And we need to start our programming. So I do think that's one reason our fall season is smaller than our spring season, by more than half. Like if we're five, 600 girls in the fall, you know, we're double, triple that in the spring.

Erika (35:02)
Right before

Mm-hmm.

wow.

Gotcha. When do you start enrolling for the fall season? Like, you hand out flyers at the end of the school year or something? Try to get the word out.

Jen Hubbell (35:30)
Wouldn't that be smart? Yep, that

would be really, really smart. we're trying lots of things with our program staff is phenomenal and program manager in her shoes now for over a year and a half closing in on too. like that idea is great. But also people don't wanna talk to us. It's May and early June. It's really hard to commit because we need to wrap up this school year first.

Erika (35:48)
Mm-hmm.

Understandable.

Jen Hubbell (36:00)
Yeah,

but I like that idea and it would make a lot of sense, you know?

Eric (36:05)
Yeah.

There's also something you could tell them about to get them really excited. And this past Boston Marathon weekend, Erica got to finally experience being a stage host, talking to a crowd. And you have a big event every fall. So your big event in the spring is the 5K. We're going to get to that. That's coming up very soon. But in the fall, actually, the big event, even though you probably do a 5K, you have a gala. Tell us about the gala. And Erica can be your host.

Jen Hubbell (36:32)
Yes, so.

Erika (36:35)
We can make that happen.

Jen Hubbell (36:36)
Erica, we need to talk after this. We can make that

happen. So listen, because we are celebrating 25 years as a council, this year, all year long, 2026, we decided we needed to hold our first ever gala. And it is called a sneaker soiree.

which is such an adorable idea, templated by Girls on the Run headquarters. So many of these, or so many of the councils use this same name. Think cocktail party attire, like ankle up, and then your cleanest, best sneakers. Or a brand new pair, which, you know, why not? You always need a new pair of running shoes. Or tennis. Or tritons, tritons, So yes, that is October 1st.

Erika (37:15)
I love it.

yeah, yeah, there's always a good excuse. And this is the best one.

Jen Hubbell (37:27)
in Manchester and we are super excited about it not only to celebrate what we've done in 25 years but yeah to raise some money because it's it's a growing organization and we do a lot for the girls in New Hampshire you know we offer unlimited financial aid.

We don't ever want to turn a participant away. We've put sneakers on girls feet so that they have appropriate footwear to train for this 3.1 mile course. So yeah, so you know, I think about highlights and over the 25 years and we reached, if there were girls in 2007,

Erika (38:05)
Mm-hmm. great incentive.

Jen Hubbell (38:16)
2011, we reached 500. 2013, we doubled that to a thousand. And then it took us four years to reach just over 2,000 girls. So now I'm thinking, when is that 3,000 girl year gonna happen?

Erika (38:25)
Mm-hmm.

Hopefully

Eric (38:37)
Gonna happen.

Erika (38:38)
soon!

Jen Hubbell (38:39)
It's

happen.

Eric (38:41)
So this gala, it's your first ever. Are you hoping to make

it annual? Who's welcome? Like any girl who's ever participated, is it just that year's girls, coaches? Is this like an adult only party? Is there gonna be like a DJ, big food? Is John gonna like cook everything for all the girls, have a big pasta dinner? Like give us the details on this gala.

Erika (39:02)
I'm

Jen Hubbell (39:02)
this.

This gala is adults only. Adults only, it's at this pretty swanky venue, the venues at the factory in Manchester. ⁓ It will be a cocktail hour, silent auction, ⁓ live fundraising from the stage. I, of course, will have some poignant words to share and we're still trying to figure out like the lineup.

Eric (39:18)
Okay.

Jen Hubbell (39:34)
I would love to get a girls on their end. Yeah, she does attend some, which would be great, right? But I also love the idea of bringing on stage maybe three different age groups, like a current fifth grader, a high school student who's about ready to go to college, and then maybe...

Eric (39:36)
Molly.

Erika (39:56)
Mm-hmm.

Jen Hubbell (39:58)
someone in their 20s or 30s, someone who participated in Girls on the Run back in 2001, and to have like a quick little panel of commentary of the why and what and how and look at me now.

Eric (40:00)
Deslendon.

Mm-hmm.

And then, hold on, let's brainstorm here. We got to record it and then publish it out for everyone else to hear because what's the point in just like 50 to 100 people hearing it in this venue? Let's put it out there. my God. ⁓ I'll record it for you. I'll bring everything you need.

Erika (40:15)
That is a great idea.

Jen Hubbell (40:16)
I want tears. I want tears. And I want... Okay.

Mmm.

You wanna come? You wanna come?

Okay, good. Yeah, we're

guest list, like 150 to 200 people is our goal. And yeah, I'm very excited and yes, it could become annual.

Erika (40:50)
That's so exciting. I hope this brings in a lot more ⁓ like fundraising dollars with like your silent auction. what do you mean by live fundraiser? Like what kind of stuff are you guys going to be giving away?

Eric (40:50)
This is cool!

Jen Hubbell (40:57)
Yeah, thank you.

So that's one of the things that, ⁓ you know, when you do like a paddle raise where you have a number and from the, you try to raise money that way and start with a big like four digit number and then come down so that there's an opportunity for all to participate. I know that that's a very successful method of fundraising. ⁓ I'm not going to be calling that out from the stage.

Erika (41:10)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Jen Hubbell (41:33)
We need to get somebody who is passionate about Girls on the Run, knows what we do, is, um, could have some fun with that.

Erika (41:41)
I feel like that's a Yuki job right there. Get her to dress up in her beautiful, like, sparkly unicorn stuff. Brand new pair of sneakers. I'm sure she's got a pair.

Jen Hubbell (41:44)
Hahaha ⁓

You know what though, that is a good point because we also want to make this fun because that's what Girls on the Run is. It's not just about running. So at this event, we have the idea of setting up this like sneaker bar where we have brand new pairs of sneakers and to get like bling and to have guests be able to donate $25 to be able to decorate a pair of shoes. And then for the fall season, we could distribute to the girls.

Erika (41:55)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (41:56)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (42:14)
cool.

Jen Hubbell (42:19)
that we've provided shoes for, like in the past. We support some sites at some of the schools in Manchester and Nashua to give these girls an opportunity to do something that they might not be able to do otherwise. So how fun would that be? So that decorating sneakers, yeah, Yuki could be right there. Yeah.

Eric (42:22)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

And it's because you include.

Erika (42:37)
So fun, so fun.

Eric (42:37)
Yeah. And

that's because you include everyone. No one's left out because they can't afford it. Everyone's included. If they want to sign up, they sign up. They're in.

Jen Hubbell (42:46)
Yep. Well, yes and no. They're in, but it's also supply and demand. Think about it. It's like coach capacity. It's not like two coaches can oversee a team of 50 girls. No way. Like we have to give each participant the opportunity to use her voice. So team ratios are set with always.

Eric (42:52)
⁓

Erika (42:52)
Mmm

Eric (43:09)
Okay, what kind of race are

we talking?

Jen Hubbell (43:11)
So two girls, sorry, two coaches to 15 girls max. If you add a third...

Eric (43:16)
Okay. So we just need to add Erica

to be a coach for all these. If ever there's more people, we're just going to add Erica to the list as a coach.

Jen Hubbell (43:22)
Well, there

Erika (43:25)
Sure.

Jen Hubbell (43:25)
it is. we, Erica, we're going to be using you a lot. You've got things to do here.

Erika (43:31)
I'm gonna have to keep bopping

to all these different places to let more girls come and and get some running in.

Eric (43:37)
mean, she has a lot

of free time right now.

Erika (43:40)
Well, yeah, at the end of this season, we'll see. We'll see what's going on for fall. I'll see if I can help.

Jen Hubbell (43:43)
You see what

Eric (43:45)
looking for a job.

Jen Hubbell (43:45)
we'll see.

Eric (43:48)
Maybe girls on the run is hiring. We'll talk later. We'll talk later. But no. Okay. So that's actually great to know about the ratio. I though had a follow up question about the gala and it's kind of like a reach out to everyone listening right now. Cause this gala is October 1st. So we got the summer. know everyone's busy, but what are you looking for? What do you need from people in the New Hampshire area? Like many over a third of our listeners are all New Hampshire.

Jen Hubbell (43:51)
you

Eric (44:15)
What is Girls on the Run New Hampshire looking for for this gala? there anything you need? If you could reach out to them right now and say, hey, we'd love for you to sign up or to donate or we're looking for fundraisers. I need a host, an announcer. Right. What can New Hampshire people do for Girls on the Run, especially around this gala?

Erika (44:26)
Volunteers for stuff, yeah.

Jen Hubbell (44:28)
next.

So I don't want to just say go to our website. It's at girls on the run, blah, blah. It's in the show notes. Okay, cool. So actually right now, actively looking for corporate sponsors and partners for some of those big dollars where they get a table in exchange and they're supporting our organization and having a really great time.

Eric (44:37)
It's in the show notes.

Erika (44:48)
Mmm.

Jen Hubbell (45:00)
I'm also going to be looking for some really interesting, clever, live auction, not live auction, silent auction items. Like think about experiences or places.

Not like donate plane tickets, because that would be absurd now that they cost like $3,000 to go anywhere. It's the price of gas. ⁓ But like if you have a condo or if you have tickets to the Red Sox or, you know, the Bruins next year, you know, something like that, okay, then. Yeah.

Erika (45:20)
you

Eric (45:35)
That's what I want. I'm putting my name in for the Bruins. Nobody else. Just me.

Erika (45:37)
He's gonna shell out big bucks.

Jen Hubbell (45:42)
So thinking about items like that, even like a dining experience or a chef coming to your home, know, fun, right? And now maybe that idea of John Mortimer cooking a pasta dinner, that could be like.

Eric (45:49)
⁓ that'd be so cool!

John will cook. We're putting it

in. John and Jennifer are gonna cook you a homemade meal. Sorry, John.

Erika (45:58)
He's going to donate his time. Come to your house.

Jen Hubbell (46:02)
That's it. That's it.

Sorry. You're busy that night. So yes. So, and we're starting to sell tables and tickets and I do want to fill the room with the people that adore us. But I also would love to fill the room, maybe 50 50, with people who don't know about Girls on the Run. So maybe this is their first experience as a company getting involved and be like, holy, and we said we wouldn't swear. Whoa. Whoa.

Eric (46:31)
Ha ha.

Jen Hubbell (46:32)
Look at what this organ, this nonprofit does for the girls in New Hampshire. They're our next leaders. So I want, I want to, I want in.

Eric (46:43)
Now do we want, now do we want all these organizations to show up to be New Hampshire or could they be New England?

Erika (46:43)
definitely something to invest in.

Jen Hubbell (46:54)
so I know that Vermont has a full state council. So does Maine. Massachusetts has three different councils because they're so big. ⁓ if guests wanted to drive up from Massachusetts, I'd love it. I'd love it, but I would never go knocking on the door of a Massachusetts based company. Do you know what I mean? Cause that's, that's, those are my, my gal pals, executive directors. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Erika (47:14)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (47:15)
Yeah.

Makes perfect sense. Makes perfect sense. Yeah, ⁓

I'm figuring it all out. This is going to be so much fun. I really, if you do go ahead with this panel, let's talk. We'll figure it out. But let's talk more about what's coming up in a couple of days. It's the spring season. It's your biggest season. We think it's your biggest season because the girls are in school all year. They don't really sign up for the fall because of summer. They finally catch up. How many girls right now?

Jen Hubbell (47:28)
Mmm. Okay, yeah.

Eric (47:47)
Do you think we'll be there on Saturday running this big girls on the run 5k?

Jen Hubbell (47:52)
So this spring season, we have 1,482 girls. It is not our largest season. Actually, pre-pandemic, we had over 1,800 girls. So we're building back, you know what I mean, after that. So let's talk again next year, we'll be up.

Erika (48:13)
Mm-hmm.

Let's get in there.

Jen Hubbell (48:17)
We'll be up again. So that many

girls, 1482, add in their volunteer coaches, 360, and then each girl gets to have one 5K buddy.

Eric (48:33)
Whoa, so your numbers are gonna actually like double.

Jen Hubbell (48:36)
yeah, so we'll be over 3000 participants. But that's why we cut it in half. That's why we brought on Millennium. It was time after my almost 19 years, you know, we've had people on staff that have helped organize the 5K over the years.

Eric (48:44)
That's also why you brought on Millennium.

Jen Hubbell (49:03)
I've also been in charge of hiring the vendors, you the one person to set up the course. I'm in charge of reaching out to the police, organizing the ambulance, you know, so many pieces. So after our spring 5K last year, which we tried to do one big one, and it was a lot. It was a lot. And after that, I was like, dear.

You know, rotary telephone.

Eric (49:30)
Right, right.

Erika (49:32)
rotary phone.

Eric (49:34)
Well, share the story before

you actually called John. There was a story about you and John a few years ago, right? Because you were looking to grow Girls on the Run. I don't know if this was pre-pandemic or not, but you were just looking to have a spot at a Millennium race to like get Girls on the Run on everyone's radar and to keep continue the growth. Like that, that happened first, right?

Jen Hubbell (49:40)
Mmm!

Yeah.

Yes, and I'm wondering, I'm trying to think if it was the ⁓ Northeast Delta Dental Elliott 5k in August out of Veterans Park. I'm wondering if that was the event two years ago, two or three years ago.

But I remember reaching out to John and saying, hey, could we come set up our girls on the run tent and, and talk to people? We're trying to get more coaches, more interest. And he said to me, Jen, consider any, any event you want to come to, leave a tent at our warehouse in Bedford. We will set it up. You'll have a table. You come at any, any event. like, we'd love to get you involved.

True story. And we did. We did. So then when last spring happened and I spoke with the executive director, Girls on the Run Boston, I said, Cindy, how do you do your 5K? They launch out of the Boston Common. They shut down streets. That's big

Erika (51:03)
yeah, that's big time.

Eric (51:05)
How many

Jen Hubbell (51:06)
She said to me three words, race management company. Get yourself one. He said,

It is so nice to show up, the venue set up, logistics are taken care of, and you are able to enjoy your, it's a party, it's a celebration. And to be the host, hostess of this big event where...

Erika (51:25)
Mm-hmm.

So the race management

company does everything for you. So you had mentioned you had to set up the ambulance, and then there's the whole course set up. So they take care of everything? that's nice.

Jen Hubbell (51:43)
Everything. They set up, we

have this, like the athletes village, you know, the team village with all the teams and the tables and the signs. The course will be set up. They'll pick up 3000 bottles of water the Friday before from Hannaford where we get that donated every single 5k. They are loading all the trucks.

Erika (51:48)
Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

Jen Hubbell (52:06)
I got rid of my storage unit and all of our 5K infrastructure stuff because John, we really broke down everything we didn't need, got rid of it. So they set up tents. ⁓ It's gonna be so much fun to show up on May 30th. But don't get me wrong, there's still work that we have. I'm in charge of recruiting every single volunteer. So we have broke stuff.

Erika (52:08)
you

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (52:34)
That's why you're here right

now, Erica, by the way.

Erika (52:36)
Got some work to do.

Jen Hubbell (52:37)
This is like

Liberty Mutual. They do a team building thing where they all ⁓ help with the water stop. Yeah, so almost 100 volunteers on our end will support the 5K as parking monitors, course monitors, water stop, volunteer check-in.

Eric (52:59)
Where is it this year?

Jen Hubbell (53:01)
Memorial Field in Concord, New Hampshire, which I'll tell you is a little slice of heaven because it is a closed course. shut down, yeah, we shut down South Fruit Street between Clinton and Pleasant, which is right near Exeter, no, Exeter, ha ha, Concord High School. And then we go up and around the whole state complex.

Eric (53:05)
Okay.

Really?

Erika (53:28)
Wow.

Jen Hubbell (53:29)
all those government buildings because nobody's working on a Saturday or if they are it's not a lot. So it's great, it's great. So as the executive director it's so much stress off of me knowing these girls and coaches and first time runners. know some of the family members have never run a 5k and they decide this is the one.

Erika (53:52)
What a good one to choose for your first 5k.

Eric (53:56)
I think that's awesome. It's going to be so cool being in Concord centralized. Like what are some of the furthest towns kids are coming from? Like, do you have kids all the way up in Berlin and Gorham? I'm sure the sea coast, but like the areas of New Hampshire, the all the, what did you call it? Like, ⁓ a council or something is like Lindsay. We know Lindsay's involved and she's out near where I think somewhere out there and Jesse is out near Dover.

Jen Hubbell (54:16)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Where where?

Eric (54:26)
I know she's involved. you got kids coming from all over. Are they being bussed in? Are the moms and dads bringing them? Like, what are going to be some of the fun things they'll see too, by the way, not just running, but like. I'm thinking like a fan zone and athletes village. That was the word I was looking for. Like, what will they be doing in the athletes village for fun? Will they be music? Will DJ Darren Roy be there or someone playing tunes? Right. Yeah.

Jen Hubbell (54:26)
Yep. Yep.

Erika (54:51)
Thank

Jen Hubbell (54:51)
Heck yeah, he'll be spinning the records. Yes.

Erika (54:54)
yeah.

Jen Hubbell (54:55)
E.J. Darin is going to be so much fun. He is such an asset. ⁓ When they arrive, they're going to walk underneath our huge inflatable arch that says the finish line is just the beginning. So as they walk down that memorial field parking lot.

That's such like a fun entrance and they'll be able to run under it back and forth as they finish on the track at Memorial Field. But things that are going on, it's a pretty fast paced morning. So if families are arriving around 7.15 for that eight o'clock wave, we're excited that Kevin Skorupa will be there for the first wave. yeah, and he's good.

Eric (55:37)
yeah.

Erika (55:37)
the

news WMUR

Jen Hubbell (55:40)
Yeah, he's gonna he's done it before for us and it's really fun. he shares the weather, you know what what people can expect out on the course in the next 10 minutes. So so he'll be there and we provide all the teams with face paint like warrior paint pink and green, which are the colors for girls on the run. ⁓ All of their 5k bibs. I wish I had one right now to show you.

Erika (55:48)
That's cute.

Jen Hubbell (56:08)
say number one with their name underneath so that every single participant is number one and the coaches say coach. So that is great. You know, they start at 8 a.m. with kind of a staggered start because I don't want to start the whole mass of 1500 runners in that first wave on the track.

Erika (56:34)
Chaos.

Eric (56:35)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (56:36)
Yup.

Jen Hubbell (56:37)
chaos. So

we parade the athletes to the track.

Eric (56:42)
You know, it would be cool. It's probably too late now, but you know, the cheap marathon, they start two at a time and there's the TV and it has their name and they have the race announcer. The race announcer would be like, next up, we got six star Erica. You know, and if you started to like, they make you feel like a rock star. mean, 3000 girls, that's a lot of names, but even think of it like this. my God. I'm having so much fun brainstorming.

Erika (56:53)
you

It is fun to hear your name. Yell it out loud.

Jen Hubbell (57:04)
Yes. That's it.

Erika (57:07)
Yeah.

Eric (57:10)
You and your buddy, you get to bring the buddy. We got Jen and her buddy Erica.

Jen Hubbell (57:18)
Eric, I love it. The only problem is, is our start and finish line are the exact same. It's an out and back.

Eric (57:21)
I know.

Oh,

well, we'll expand. w w w you know, we'll keep evolving and we'll work on things. We'll make it work. We'll make it work. Not this year, but maybe, you know, sometime in the next 25, never say never. That's right. I think this event's going to be so cool. I'm expecting Lindsay to do all the on the runs content. So Lindsay, that's what you have at this event. May 30th, the big 5k.

Erika (57:27)
Hehehehehe

Jen Hubbell (57:32)
Yes. Okay, okay, good, Maybe, maybe. Never say never. Okay, yeah, never say never.

Erika (57:40)
There we go.

Eric (57:52)
I'm so happy you brought on a race management team, not just because it was the smart move, but it seems like you've built the partnership even bigger because this year I just ran the happy hour hustle 5k and, ⁓ let the pictures show that I did beat Tara Teradactyl. I don't care what the timing and scoring says. I beat her, but I'm standing in line. So I am not in the Millennium Running Club.

Erika (58:09)
Stop trying to make it happen, Eric. It's not going to happen.

Eric (58:19)
I am on their Facebook page, but I'm not like a signed up member. So I didn't get one of these singlets and Erica did sign up this year and she sends us. Yeah, go grab it. And I'll, I'll finish the story. She, she sends a picture of this singlet and I'm like, ⁓ pink. That's nice. It really pretty stands out. I'm now standing in line at this race for the happy hour hustle. And I noticed every singlet.

Erika (58:26)
I can go grab it. Do you want me to go grab it real quick? Yeah, hang on.

Eric (58:43)
says girls on the run on the back. happen?

Erika (58:48)
on the run. Girls on the run.

Jen Hubbell (58:48)
Look at that. So sweet. ⁓ Makes me so happy.

I didn't. I didn't make that happen. That was something that John shared with me. So Jen, guess what? I was like, no way. No way. I don't know the whole process, if it's a committee or something.

but every year they support a different nonprofit organization. And it's not like it was a signing bonus, you know, for the fact that we brought on John and his team for, to oversee our 5K. It was just, it's for this year. And wow, I like to bring them on.

Eric (59:24)
Ha ha!

Jen Hubbell (59:37)
It's our 25th anniversary. Like all of these things are aligning for such a powerful year with so many connections. And we get our, as a, dear, your dear friend and mine, Tom Rapio. He always, when I have, I get the chance to welcome the runners or one of my staff members at each Millennium Running event where we're the beneficiaries. Yeah. And Tom will be Jen. Make sure it's less than 30 seconds.

Eric (59:58)
every one of them.

Erika (1:00:00)
Hmm

He's standing there like tapping his watch. I'm, I'm, I got that.

Jen Hubbell (1:00:06)
Thank

Yes,

but the other day I can't, wasn't the happy hour hustle, but I, all of a sudden I just became a little bit emotional looking out at the sea of pink and purple. And at that race, there's only 250. Yeah. Beautiful.

Eric (1:00:19)
Yeah.

Erika (1:00:21)
telling you, this is like beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful,

Eric (1:00:25)
There was easily

Erika (1:00:25)
beautiful.

Eric (1:00:26)
like 80 % of the field was wearing the pink singlet. I felt left out. I was like, no.

Jen Hubbell (1:00:30)
Yeah. Yeah.

Erika (1:00:33)
Get on it, Eric.

Join the team.

Jen Hubbell (1:00:35)
Well, are there three

more they do? One in June, one July, one August? Five. Okay.

Eric (1:00:38)
there's five. There's five. Yeah, yeah.

And, Tara, you don't have to show up for the fifth one, because I'm just going to win the next three. A little inside thing going on.

Jen Hubbell (1:00:45)
You

Erika (1:00:48)
you

Jen Hubbell (1:00:49)
But

what you'll see is these same runners are going to be wearing that tank or short sleeve shirt too. I know, Luke, this is great. This is great.

Eric (1:00:52)
Yeah.

It's awesome.

It's awesome.

I love the story. I love that, you know, we ran into you at that race because I've only heard little things and I always felt like, well, you know, I'm a dad of a girl who's 10 and I'm a dad of two younger boys, but girls on the run isn't something that I always get to see because I'm just not, I'm not a girl. And Erica doesn't have kids. So I think she just sees it from the outside too of our friends from teams like Reach the Beach teams who do this.

Jen Hubbell (1:01:18)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (1:01:25)
Exactly.

Eric (1:01:26)
And we get to see

them post about it. We're like, this is so cool. Tell us about it in the moment as it's happening, as the 5k is happening or as the fall season is happening. We always kind of missed the boat, but then we ran into you at the 10k, the 5k, the St. Patty's 10 and 5k. We're doing our live show. And I was like, we got to figure this out. We got to get you on, not just for the quick five minutes, but to hear more. And you had a goal this year, cause it's the 25th year.

And I think that was like days after you made that goal for yourself. Tell me what that goal was.

Jen Hubbell (1:02:00)
Gosh, wow. As you're asking the question, I thought, uh-oh, I'm on the hot seat, but I'm not because I can have a terrible memory at times, but I know what I said. I said, I want to be able to share more. I want to be able to be on podcasts and talk to the people and say, this is what Girls on the Run is all about. And it's just like to make it a more recognized name in print.

in radio. just want people to know. I want them to know it's not just Coke and Pepsi and McDonald's and Burger King. I want to be a name, a household name.

Erika (1:02:41)
Absolutely. And I'm happy that we can share our platform for good like this. This is what we want to do. We want to be able to help you get the word out because it is such an important organization. So I'm glad we can help get the word out.

Jen Hubbell (1:02:54)
Me too, I really am. This is so fun and I feel like there's more work to do and like just now that we're friends, I'm gonna bring that some, yes.

Eric (1:03:02)
Yes. Yes. I really hope we do the gala thing. I really hope we do the

Erika (1:03:04)
yes.

Eric (1:03:06)
gala thing. I'm going to mark it in the calendar. Erica, don't schedule anything on October 1st. But Jen, you are not off the hook yet. We have our final two questions brought to you by MyRaceTats. And I just thought of this like earlier. I was like, why? Dawn. Dawn Oswalt from MyRaceTats. We need to make a Girls on the Run race tat. We need to have this. And then all the girls get the, these are.

Jen Hubbell (1:03:08)
Good.

Yes. Okay, good.

Erika (1:03:28)
That is a great idea. They

have to be glittery. Make them glittery.

Eric (1:03:33)
Yeah, well they

make Erika tell Jen about my race tats.

Erika (1:03:38)
It's basically a mantra that you can wear on your skin. if you're out doing your very first 5K, one of the new ones that, or one of my favorite that he has is forward is a pace. And you can wear it on your hand or on your arm, whatever. And just when you're in a moment of doubt, just look at it and it helps get you through. So these are just, he's got a whole collection of different mantras that you could wear too. So I love that idea, Eric, putting like making it girls on the run.

Jen Hubbell (1:03:49)
Hmm.

Eric (1:04:05)
Yeah. Even just the Girls on the Run logo,

but maybe we're going to have to connect you because when we started talking to him about partnerships, one of the things was he's like, I can make you on the runs, you know, or stoolie, our little mascot, stoolie tattoos. These are, these are temporary tattoos that, you know, that they come off in a week or two, but they don't, they don't come off when you sweat in the race and he makes the glitter ones for your faces. It'd be so sick. It'd be so sweet. And he's...

Erika (1:04:07)
Yeah.

Yeah, our guy, he's right there.

Jen Hubbell (1:04:19)
You're skipper.

Erika (1:04:30)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:04:33)
He's a North South Carolina guy, but all we got to connect to you. However, our final two questions brought to you by my race tats. I'm going to go first and I have, changed my question of every year and this year it's the year of the hot take. want to hear your hot take. This can be fun. It can be silly. can be serious. It can be like pineapple doesn't belong on pizza because it doesn't. It could be like the next president of the United States is going to be a woman. Give me a hot take.

Jen Hubbell (1:04:37)
Okay.

Erika (1:04:38)
Eric's so excited.

Jen Hubbell (1:05:02)
Okay, so here's my hot take, because I was actually on a run a couple weeks ago and a car passed me going the same direction I was. It's a quiet country road and the license plate, six letters, be kind, be kind. And automatically I just said, ⁓ I am, like I am kind.

So I think that is my hot take. There are so many differing opinions. It's a complicated world we live in, but we can all be kind.

Eric (1:05:44)
Mm-hmm. A good one.

Erika (1:05:44)
I love that, Jen. Absolutely

a good one.

Eric (1:05:49)
Thought it went on the spot too.

Jen Hubbell (1:05:49)
Okay, good, I passed. Okay,

so I'm a great person, remember? So that's an A.

Eric (1:05:52)
Yeah, I thought it went on the spot, by the way.

Erika (1:05:53)
A plus, A plus.

Eric (1:05:55)
Well, Erica has her final question, and I do realize after our meeting and everything we had, I didn't even prep you for these, so I'm sorry.

Jen Hubbell (1:05:57)
Okay.

No, it's okay. That's why I was like, dear, am I gonna pass? And I did, so.

Erika (1:06:04)
you

This one there are no wrong answers for, so you will be all set. But this one I think is a great opportunity. I'm gonna kind of word it differently, but we have a Spotify playlist and we like to invite our guests to add a song to it. So is there a song that just encompasses everything that Girls on the Run is about that would fit on this playlist? Just something that's gonna pump these girls up and get them excited to run.

Jen Hubbell (1:06:33)
my gosh. So there are a couple, but one is my personal and my staff knows this and it's not like a really pump up song, but it has special meaning to me. Dirty dancing. I've had the time of my life. You know, that's, already told DJ Darren that someday when my last 5k happens with girls on the run, I have to sing it. At least the first line.

Erika (1:06:49)
Yes.

Eric (1:07:02)
I thought you were gonna say you have to do the thing. You need Darren to catch you in the air and Darren's gonna hold you and spin you.

Jen Hubbell (1:07:04)
No, no, no.

No, no. I mean, that's that's a great song. But I also think about like Sarah Bareilles, Brave.

Erika (1:07:16)
Ooh, that's a great one too!

Jen Hubbell (1:07:19)
a good one. There's a lot

of good ones out there, a lot of positive upbeat songs that just inspire all of us to do our best and that's what we want.

Eric (1:07:21)
Yeah.

Erika (1:07:29)
I love it. See? No wrong answers. You nailed it.

Jen Hubbell (1:07:32)
No

wrong answers. Of course, I'll hang up with you both and be like, shoot, I knew there was that one I wanted to share.

Erika (1:07:36)
You can always

Eric (1:07:37)
You're

Erika (1:07:37)
message me later. We can change them up.

Eric (1:07:37)
going to hear it on the radio later and be like, can I change my song? Jen, this was awesome. I love the story. I love that we met and how we connected. I love that we've taken this to the next level. wasn't just like, nice to meet you. You know, I'm a guy, you're girl's on the run. It's not going to work. No, we love to support local. love to support everybody. But one thing I've always said is we always want to have a real strong local connection and

Jen Hubbell (1:07:40)
Wait a Wait a minute.

Eric (1:08:03)
The fact that we know so many people already involved in this just got me so excited when we met you to try to expand on it and see what we can do to help you out too. Because you want to do more of the stuff you said. This is year two, five, 25, and you're going to grow it. And you're like, I got to put myself out there. And I think you have a marketing person whose cousin's with, is it Jesse's cousin?

Erika (1:08:18)
It's a big year.

Jen Hubbell (1:08:24)
Yes.

Jessie's sister, Kim Ezekman, she's phenomenal. And actually during our staff meeting earlier, she has some ideas. We'd love to get, we want you, we want you at the five today.

Erika (1:08:27)
Kim!

Eric (1:08:27)
sister.

Love it.

Erika (1:08:37)
you

Eric (1:08:38)
Talking to you, Erica.

She's talking to you. ⁓ I love it. And you, the point of that is when we mentioned Jessie's sister was that you're like, can't wait to text her and tell her I'm jumping on a podcast, which was last March.

Erika (1:08:50)
I know Kim well.

I know Kim and Jesse very well. Like, reach the beach. That was our thing. The penguins.

Jen Hubbell (1:08:59)
It is New Hampshire. It's like how many degrees of separation are we all? Like somebody knows somebody and that's so important to me. So like we did that too. Like you, Eric, asking the questions, me, Molly, girls on the run, blah, blah. Like there's so many parts of it and gosh, we all have this fabulous story and I'm just so glad that I had a chance to share a little bit of mine and who I am.

Erika (1:09:03)
true.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:09:23)
Yeah. This was a lot of fun.

I hope everybody really enjoyed this. A little different from what we typically do, but maybe we do these a little more often. ⁓ A couple of times a year, this was a lot of fun because we love to support, especially local. Guys, October 1st is the big gala. If you know anyone in the state who can help out, who can buy a table, donate, silent auction. If you want to go, like Jen's going to give me all the deets and I'm going to put them in the show notes. Okay.

Jen Hubbell (1:09:25)
Yeah.

Erika (1:09:37)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:09:50)
So can find it there. You can also find at Girls on the Run. Just Google Girls on the Run New Hampshire. You can find Jen. The other thing I wanted to say was your big 5K coming up. I know it's in a couple of days. Next year's 5K. If anyone else wants to get involved, how can they get involved?

Jen Hubbell (1:10:10)
Well, if they want to get involved as a coach, you know, we recruit people year round. That is easy. And again, head to the website, which will be in the show notes. ⁓ Get involved. There's a 5K volunteer button. We're always looking for new energy to help support. It's a fast day. know, our volunteers will be showing up at 630, some of them who are doing the double session and won't be done until 12. But it's a blast.

Eric (1:10:12)
Yes.

Yeah.

hope you have a great day.

Erika (1:10:39)
sounds like a full on party.

⁓ yeah. ⁓

Jen Hubbell (1:10:41)
Yeah, it really is. We'll have good snacks, don't you worry.

Eric (1:10:43)
Amazing.

I hope you have a great day. I'm so excited for you and for all the girls. It's going to be wicked awesome and love the partnership you've made with Millennium. I think that's great.

Jen Hubbell (1:10:46)
Thank you.

Me too, me too.

Erika (1:10:56)
Thank you, Jen. It was a pleasure having you on the podcast and you're welcome anytime. Anytime you need us to help get a bump out there and get some more volunteers or more girls to sign up for your fall season. Just let us know. We'll have you back on.

Eric (1:10:56)
guys out

Jen Hubbell (1:11:08)
Yeah. Yeah,

Thanks, Eric, Erica.

Erika (1:11:16)
Jen, thank you so much for coming back on the pod. I love that we got to talk to you back in March and have you back on for a whole episode learning more about Girls on the Run, your involvement. I just love what you're doing and we wish you all the success. We want all the girls to join your team, especially for fall. We're going to boost those numbers for you. We're going to get them up there. So thank you for doing this with us and happy birthday.

I hope you had a wonderful birthday and since it's on the same day as my dad's. Happy birthday, dad. I love you. Donnie Hamill.

Eric (1:11:42)
Yeah!

birthday Don Donny Hamill yeah

it was Jen was great what did what a day we had by the way where you know where we are we are we're back in time right now like like yeah it is it is a week for Memorial Day but you're listening to this the day after and I think we should just predict how awesome

Erika (1:12:00)
Doodly-doo!

Back in the future, back in the past? I don't know.

Eric (1:12:17)
Our Memorial Day was, Erica, what did you do this Memorial Day?

Erika (1:12:20)
Well, we had our awesome recording at the Millennium Run to Remember Expo, which was fantastic as per usual. So many people. Yep, our live stream went perfectly.

Eric (1:12:27)
Over 12,000 people came walking through.

Yeah. We live stream from one to two. We were there 12 to three, but live streamed in the hour. It was perfect for running. And then Memorial day Monday was

Erika (1:12:36)
Mm-hmm. The weather was not that bad. Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:12:47)
I want to say I wish it was relaxing, it involved packing up the camper, getting it on the road, getting it back to home, dropping the kids off, and then I leave the camper at my parents, so then I had to bring it back. So I'm predicting I had a late night yesterday, and I had to go back to work today. So.

Erika (1:12:54)
Mm-hmm.

Well, I

am predicting a few of our friends had a very happy birthday, Tara and Steve. there's a lot of, this is a perfect birthday weekend for a lot of people and a perfect day to remember the people who have fought for our country. So thank you for your service.

Eric (1:13:08)
Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah, they have a same birthday too!

Yes,

100%. And I'm just going to say this now, Tara, if you think I forgot your birthday again for the second year in a row, that is not true. I was camping. No, I was camping just like last year and had no service. So last year while driving home from a camping, all of a sudden, when I get service, my phone goes blblblbl

Erika (1:13:31)
I just said it first.

huh.

It gets 17,000 messages.

Eric (1:13:48)
something about her birthday, like she was going out or wanting to know if I was around to join her and it was her birthday and it looked like I ghosted her and I did not. And I did not ghost you again this year, Tara Taradactyl. So happy birthday. ⁓ one year away from the big four-oh. Yeah. Speaking of the big four-oh, you have a big day coming up and there is a little race around your birthday.

Erika (1:13:53)
Mm-hmm.

⁓

Yeah, there we go. What do mean? She's 29 29

Yes, there is. Save the date, everyone. Saturday, June 27th, the Goffstown Gallup in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Come run it with me. My favorite hometown race, 8.30 AM at the Goffstown Parks and Rec building. It is going to be so much fun. The weather is always a crapshoot, but the times will be fantastic.

Eric (1:14:39)
It'll be great. You'll have friends there. can't wait to see them. I think, are your parents coming in? That's right. And then the cool part is everyone goes to the high school parking lot and they hang out for quite a while. And you know what I think is going to be consumed over there?

Erika (1:14:42)
My parents are gonna be around. Mm-hmm.

We do not do anything bad there.

Not anything illegal in a school parking lot. ⁓ Yeah. I don't want to get us in trouble.

Eric (1:15:07)
are you talking about? It's going to be on a Sunday. Saturday. it's Saturday. You did say though, technically it will be your last race as a 39 year old because of the time you were born.

Erika (1:15:10)
Saturday. Saturday.

I

mean, technically, if we're getting into like semantics here. Yes, I was officially born at 1051 AM. So by the time the race is over, I will still technically be 39.

Eric (1:15:35)
So this is the 47th Goffstown Gallup Dave was saying, right? So we're coming.

Erika (1:15:39)
Something like

that.

Eric (1:15:40)
We're coming up close to the big 5-0 anniversary year in the next three years or so. So it'll be fun.

Erika (1:15:45)
Yeah. And this

is my favorite. I've been doing it since 2009. I even did the virtual in 2020 when they couldn't actually hold it. So I've got a long streak going.

Eric (1:15:53)
Yeah.

Lindsay bring the cupcakes. Erica, take us home.

Erika (1:15:58)
you

Thank you to MyRaceTats for sponsoring this guest segment. We love you, Dawn. Thank you for everything you do. And thank you everyone for listening. You know we love you.

Eric (1:16:12)
Don't fear the code brown!

Erika (1:16:14)
And don't forget to stretch and happy birthday, Dad!

Eric (1:17:10)
On you. ⁓

Erika (1:17:11)
I know I had to burp.