BILLINGS – Mothers, daughters, sisters, granddaughters and friends came together for the Montana Women’s Run on Saturday.
Almost 5,300 women participated in the 38th annual run.
“This is my first year of doing the women’s run,” said Kealy Milton. “I thought I would just come out and see what it was all about and kind of just see all the different varieties of people and who all came out to celebrate. Got some cousins here, mother, grandma, aunts and stuff — just the whole family.”
“My mom, my aunt, my grandmother sisters my nieces [attended],” Ashley Good Luck said about her family.
“There’s five of us in the group,” said Shannon Conroy.
There’s something special about thousands of women running and walking the five and two-mile races.
“It’s about empowering women,” Milton said. “I actually didn’t even know that and so coming out here and just learning about it and being able to feel empowered myself while doing that, it feels pretty good.”
“It’s nice to have the togetherness being a group and empowering each other, cheering each other on,” Conroy said.
“I like the sea of pink,” said Shelly Brooks, Conroy’s sister. “I love seeing everybody. You’ll see pink shirts all day long. It’s awesome to see everybody and seems bigger and bigger every year.”
“It’s awesome because we’re out here supporting women,” said MTN anchor Jeanelle Slade, who participated with her mother.
“It’s very special,” Good Luck said. “All of us have kids now, so my grandmother is taking care of her great grandkids. It was fun for her to cross the finish line with her great grandkids.”
“It’s the women of the family,” said Brooks. “Very nice.”
“Get time (Sunday) to spend time with your family as well,” Milton said. “Just a lot of family time and lots of good memories that come from this weekend.
The Montana Women’s Run has drawn some elite runners.
Former Olympians Joan Benoit Samuelson in 2011, and Zola Budd Pieterse in 2014 have run in Billings.
-Reported by David Jay/MTN News
