WAKE UP AND DREAM
The Women Of Project Dreamweaver Are Wide Awake And Dreaming
It’s easy to dream. All you need to do is fall asleep. But to do something about that dream, well, that starts with waking up. Outside of your dreamscape there are no shortcuts. You have no special powers like you did while you slumbered. It takes real work… lots and lots of work. And making a dream come true takes the opportunity to do all that work. It’s not easy. That’s why so many dreams get left on pillows every morning. But that’s not the case with the Dreamweavers.
For the last two years, Nike’s Project Dreamweaver supported a community of 120 women across the U.S. and their dreams of qualifying for the most competitive Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials ever assembled. Project Dreamweaver helped give these women the opportunity to do the work it was going to take to give their dream a chance to become a reality. The Nike team gave them coaching, nutrition, sport psychology and physiology support. Lots and lots of shoes and apparel to find the exact recipe that met them where they were at in their running journey. And perhaps most importantly, instilled the belief in each and every one of them that they belonged on this coveted start line.
You don’t dream your way to the starting line of a marathon. You need to get yourself there. But it takes more than running. For so many of these women earning a spot on the Trials starting line was going to take more than minutes, meters and miles of running. What was needed was the support and opportunity to train while they also worked and studied and volunteered and lived their lives.
Long runs and recovery runs. Strength training and early morning PT appointments before work. Ice baths and after school tempo runs. Warm ups, cool downs, strides and drills before you pick up or drop off the kids. None of these things happen when you’re sleeping. Did I mention though that you need to sleep too!
To achieve the dream they would need to run 2:37 for the marathon. That’s the fastest ever qualifying time for the Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials. There is no way around it. You’re going to need to put in the work. And if you’re like Dr. Anh Bui that work is going to need to be done while you’re running your own business as a physical therapist.
If you want to earn a spot on the starting line for trials you’re going to need to average 5:59 per mile for 26.2 miles. The demands of that kind of training necessitates an almost endless supply of energy. And when you’re a mom of twins that’s also a sports nutritionist like Jo Butler is, well, you understand that there isn’t an endless supply of energy. But you do the best you can. And you give the best you’ve got. And you get yourself a little closer to your dream.
If your dream is to make something as difficult to make as the Olympic Trials then you also know that even if you do everything you can do… it still may not work out. Giovanna Fischer knew that the only thing that’s guaranteed when you decide to chase a dream as epic as hers is that there are no guarantees. That’s why it takes courage and hope. Giovanna didn’t qualify for the Trials. But she ended the chase stronger, faster and more curious about this sport. More starting lines await Giovanna. And this sport is better for having her on the line with us.
2.5 years. 120 women. 70,000 runs. 500,000 miles/800,000 kilometers. 16 Trials qualifiers. More than 50% of the Dreamweavers ran new PB’s over the Half and/or full Marathon distances. Truly impressive numbers. But numbers never tell the whole story. They can only tell us how many runners and how long and how far and how fast they ran. The real story here is what happened during all those minutes, meters and miles. The real story is about how these athletes wove together a community with a shared dream and unique experiences.
I hope every one of these extraordinary runners know that their dream has inspired so many of us to wake up and hold onto those dreams we only chase in our sleep. They’ve shown us that dreams only have the chance to come true when we’re fully awake… wholly ourselves… entirely present. They’ve reminded us that the greatest dreams aren’t even dreams at all. They’re the moments we share, the meters and miles we run and the minutes that we live doing what we’re passionate about with the people we love.
So, cheers to all the women that took part in Project Dreamweaver and thank you for daring to make one of your dreams come true. You've inspired us to do the same.
Cheers,
Coach Bennett
Tap here if you want to learn more about Nike's Project Dreamweaver
And for another look inside, don’t miss Dreamweaver-turned-Nike-pro Gabi Rooker’s Instagram post about what this sisterhood meant to her:
RUNNING LOS ANGELES WITH AN LA ‘84 OLYMPIC LEGEND
I was lucky enough to be in Santa Monica last week for the 5th anniversary of the reopening of Blue Ribbon Sports. BRS was the first Nike retail store and it’s original site was 3107 Pico Blvd in Santa Monica. For years that address was not a part of Nike. But 3107 was brought back into the Swoosh family back in 2019. The event last weekend brought together the terrific running community of Los Angeles. I’ll definitely be writing more about this evening and the history and heritage of Blue Ribbon Sports in future newsletters so don’t you worry.
While I was down in California I got to sneak in a run with 1984 Olympic Marathon Champion Joan Benoit Samuelson. I’ve run with Joanie enough to now what I’m getting into every time we cross a starting line together. And this run was no different. What started out easy and chill ended with Joanie picking up the pace little… by little… by little. I will have you know that I stayed up. It took a herculean effort mentally to do so… but I did it!
She may have dropped the entire field back in LA in ‘84 but this guy hung tough. Granted, I did in fact make her end the run before she wanted to because I told her I had to get back to my hotel room to make an important phone call which was just me calling my wife to reassure her that I had indeed survived the run with Joanie.
DID YOU KNOW IT RAINS IN ARIZONA?
I didn’t! I headed to Arizona for a Nike Wellness Collective event under the impression that it never rained, was always sunny and all cacti were five feet tall or shorter. I was wrong about everything. I did get it confirmed though from the locals that no one goes outside during the afternoons in the Summer and scorpions are real and will hide in your shoes if you leave them on the floor. So, Arizona will remain a place I visit but will never live. Cheers to all of you that can handle and thrive in such a beautiful but unforgiving place for so many months of the year. And keep your shoes off the floor!!!
And by the way, who knew that a cactus could be so big? The answer is lots of people. I just wasn’t one of them. We didn’t spend that much time on the size of cactus during my formative years of schooling in New Jersey. I’m actually glad that we didn’t. Because it meant that my first runs in Arizona were ones of wonder and awe.
MIAMI ICE
Spent a few days in Miami and Miami was as advertised. Sunny. Warm. Humid. Bright. Colorful. And full of runners from all over the world. The temperatures might have been high but Miami was always… wait for it… cool. Weak joke? Whatever. I apologize for nothing!
This was my second time in Miami and I’ve got to say that my first trip there was hard to follow. Last June I got to spend International Runner Day with the runners of Miami. It was amazing. So, expectations were high for this trip. The Miami Marathon and Half Marathon was taking place while I was there. The city was running. It was electric.
I had the honor to hang out with Miami runners at a dinner on Friday night, a shakeout run on Saturday. I also got to be at a cheer station at mile 11 of the Marathon/Half Marathon on Sunday. I spent 5 hours cheering, handing out water and ice, draping cold cloths around runners necks, shooting confetti cannons, taking pictures, and giving out high fives and hugs. It was exhausting. It was also… by far… the best part of my entire trip
Cheers to the entire running community there for making all us out-of-towners feel right at home. If you’ve never been to Miami or run there… you should. There are groups that meet just about every night and will welcome guests and visitors as if they are family.
Coach Frankie Ruiz would be the first person to meet. I refer to him as the Mayor of Miami. And he is. He also has created more starting lines in the city than anyone else. His Brickell Run Club get 100’s of runners running every Tuesday night.
You can check out Coach Frankie here.
And you can check out the Brickell Run Club here.
COACH BENNETT’S PODCAST
You’ve got not one… but TWO new Coach Bennett Podcast’s that have come out since the last newsletter. Eureka! And these two latest episodes are my two most popular opening day and opening week episodes ever thanks to all of you. Thank you for listening and if you have not already… thank you ahead of time for listening. And remember to subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you use to get your podcasts.
Listen to EPISODE 35 on Apple Podcasts here:
Listen to EPISODE 35 on Spotify here:
Listen to EPISODE 34 on Apple Podcasts here:
Listen to EPISODE 34 on Spotify here:
I’M ON THREADS
Did you know that? Because I am. And I’m posting there way more than I do on twitter. So, it just makes sense to follow me on Threads.
Here… I’ll make it easy for you.
You can follow me on Threads by tapping this sentence.
Easy peezy lemon squeezy.
THANK YOU FOR READING…
and thank you for subscribing to the newsletter. And thank you for sharing the newsletter. Thank you for running. Thank you cheering. Thank you for inviting people to new starting lines. Thank you for supporting my writing. Thank you for being a paid subscriber if you are a paid subscriber. Thank you for thunking about becoming one. And thank you for taking care of yourself and each other. Until that next starting line…
Cheers,
Coach Bennett
Did you read all the way to the end? Well, if you did I think you're the best!