If someone says you run like a girl, say thank you.

Run Like a Girl organization is a movement to inspire and motivate others to live limitless. This group inspires females from all over the world to run, hike, bike and ski.  

They host yearly coastal challenges that are grueling, multi stage races pushing participants to a level of excellence they never thought possible. And this year, one of their ambassadors is from Cochrane.

Hailey Van Dyk, Co-Founder of Run Like A Girl says they choose their ambassadors very carefully. It must be someone who shows that everyday people can do extraordinary things, that there are truly no limits to the things we can dream up and accomplish. This year Cochranite Laura Spruyt  is an ambassador, Van Dyk, says Spruyt was an easy choice.

"One of the main reason we choose Laura is because we have been following her adventures in the last year and watched her accomplish her goals. We love that she is involved in trail running and is always so happy and positive. We also wanted to choose a variety of runners because its so important to us that people don't get discouraged always seeing model like runners on social media."

Spruyt, Owner of Spruyt Movement, says 9 years ago she left a stressful job where she was unhappy and overweight.  Realizing she had to take her health into her own hands, she turned to running and a healthier lifestyle. Since then, she has had two children and has accomplished a lot. Checking off her list was a 25km run, a 50km run and participating in the Sinster 7, a 24 hour grueling leg race.

Spruyt is pretty honored that she was chosen out of the hundreds that applied to represent. 

"It means so much to me to be an ambassador for Run Like a Girl. I can support and show women that running can be for anyone.  To be able to share the message of Run Like a Girl to the people in my community is just awesome."

So what is Spruyt's agenda for 2017? Two 50km races, getting more Alpine running in, getting up in the mountains getting her vertical up.  To find out more about Run Like A Girl movement, click here.