What Happens at a Her Trails Group Run (And Why You Should Come)
Trail Notes | Community & Group Runs
for the woman thinking about coming along
What Happens at a
Her Trails Group Run.
If you have been thinking about coming to one of our group runs and have not yet, this Trail Note is for you. Not to convince you. To prepare you, so it feels like a smaller decision than it might seem from the outside.
Walking into a new running group, especially one you have only seen on Instagram, can feel surprisingly big. You wonder if you are fit enough. Fast enough. Sociable enough. You wonder what to wear, what to bring, what to expect, and whether you are about to do something that exposes you in some quiet way.
We want to take that uncertainty out of the experience. Her Trails group runs are designed for women at every stage of trail running. The goal of a group run is never to test you. It is to welcome you.
You do not need to be ready for our group runs. You need to be willing.
If you have ever wondered whether you would fit in, this is the place where the answer is, you already do.
Trail Note · 01
Why Her Trails group runs exist
Her Trails began with a belief that women deserve a different kind of trail running culture. Less ego. Less comparison. More honesty. More room to be exactly where you are on the day.
Our group runs are the most visible expression of that belief. They are not training sessions. They are not races. They are gatherings, in real places, in real bodies, on real days, where women come together to move on the trail and leave a little more themselves than when they arrived.
Whatever your pace, whatever your story, whatever your week looked like before you arrived, you are welcome. That is the whole brief.
Trail Note · 02
Who shows up
Her Trails group runs draw a wide mix of women, and that is part of why they work. You will see seasoned trail runners alongside women who have not run since before children. You will meet women returning to movement after injury, perimenopause, life changes, grief, or simply a long quiet season. You will meet first-timers who arrived on their own and walked away with five new conversations.
There is no pace requirement. There is no fitness test. There is no expectation that you turn up looking like a runner. You just turn up.
If you are worried you are too slow, you are not. If you are worried you are too fast and will be on your own, you will not be. The format is built so that nobody runs alone unless they want to.
If you can walk a trail, you belong at a Her Trails group run. The trail will rise to meet you.
Trail Note · 03
How the morning unfolds
Every group run is a little different, depending on location, season and the Maven leading it. But the rhythm tends to follow a familiar shape, so you can arrive knowing roughly what to expect.
A typical Her Trails group run
Arrive ten minutes early. Find the Maven in Her Trails kit at the meeting point.
A short welcome circle. Introductions. Route brief. Any safety notes.
A small theme for the run. Sometimes a question. Sometimes a coaching cue. Always optional.
Group split into pace pods if needed. Slower, steady, faster. All cared for.
Two to four hours on the trail, depending on the run, with regroup points along the way.
A finish ritual. Coffee, snack, conversation, sometimes a swim or a photo.
No one is dropped. No one is left to find the trail alone. The Maven and the more experienced members of the group are always paying quiet attention to who is where, and why.
Trail Note · 04
What to bring
You do not need expensive kit to come to a group run. You need to be safe, warm, fed and able to enjoy your time on the trail. Specific kit will depend on the location, the season, and the run brief, which the Maven will share before the day.
Shoes
Trail shoes if you have them. Comfortable trainers if you do not. Worn-in. Not brand new.
Layers
Dressed for the weather. A light jacket or windbreaker if it might change.
Water
A handheld bottle, a vest or a small pack. Enough for the run length the Maven flagged.
Snack
A bar, gel or piece of fruit, especially for longer runs over ninety minutes.
Phone
Charged. With emergency contact info accessible. We hope you never need it.
Optional
Sun protection, hat, period products, anti-chafe, post-run change of clothes for the coffee after.
Trail Note · 05
The thing we hear most often
When women come to their first group run, two themes return again and again. The first is, I was so nervous before, and within ten minutes I had completely forgotten why. The second is, I cannot believe I have spent so long telling myself I was not ready for this.
This is not because the group is sentimental about welcoming you. It is because the format itself removes the things that make new running groups intimidating. Pace pods mean you are with women moving at your speed. Regroup points mean you are not chasing or being chased. The Maven holds the room with care, not performance. The coffee at the end gives you a chance to swap names, recipes, race plans and quiet stories.
By the time you leave, the friction you carried about whether to come tends to feel smaller than it did at the start. That is the design working as intended.
Trail Note · 06
What our Mavens do
Each location is held by a Maven. Mavens are Her Trails-trained run leaders who carry our community values into their region. They know the trails. They know the weather. They know which sections are runnable and which want patience. They know how to read a group, where to pause for a photo, when to redirect a route if conditions change.
More importantly, they know how to make a new woman feel like she is in the right place. They will introduce you to others. They will sit you next to someone over coffee. They will notice if you are quiet and check in.
If at any point during a run you feel unsure, uncomfortable or unwell, you can speak to the Maven directly. There is no judgement attached to any decision you make. Stopping early, walking a section, sitting one out, all entirely valid.
Trail Note · 07
If you are coming alone
Most women come to their first group run alone. It can feel like the bigger version of the decision than the run itself. We want to make the bridge across that first step as small as possible.
Reach out before you come if it helps. Reply to the run email. Send a quick note via the Her Trails community. Let your Maven know you are new. You do not have to share anything about yourself. You just have to give us the chance to look out for you on the day.
One conversation. One trail. One coffee. That is all a first group run needs to be.
Her Trails coaching cue
You do not have to feel ready to come. You only have to be willing to show up. The community does the rest.
Trail Note · 08
What you might not expect
There is a part of a Her Trails group run that is hard to describe on a website. The honesty of the conversations. The way women open up about life beyond running, often within the first kilometre. The laughter on technical descents. The quiet companionship on long climbs. The way the trail seems to give permission to be a more whole version of yourself.
You may arrive thinking you are coming for a run. You may leave with a new friend, a new training partner, a new local trail, or a new sense of what you are capable of. None of that is promised. All of it is possible.
The trail is the excuse to be there. The women are the reason it works.
Trail Note · 09
The invitation
If you have been waiting for the right moment to come to a group run, this is your sign that the right moment is simply the next one. Not a fitter version of you. Not a less busy month. Not a more confident year.
Pick a location near you. Check the next run. Reply to the email if you have questions. Pack your shoes, water and a snack. Set the alarm. Drive yourself to the meeting point. The hardest part is the car park. Once you are out of it, the trail does the rest.
We are looking forward to meeting you. Bring yourself exactly as you are.
the trail is the excuse, the women are the reason
Written by the Her Trails community team
Trail Notes are evidence-informed coaching journals written for women who train, race and run on trails. Made to be absorbed in ten minutes and remembered for a season.
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