Elite Trail Runners and LGBTQ Couple Launch OUTrun

Written by OUTrun co-founders Addie Bracy and Corey Conner for the Spring 2019 edition of our Trail Times newsletter. Above photo: Addie Bracy at the 2018 World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships in Poland.

As professional athletes and an LGBTQ couple, we have experienced so much support and empowerment from our involvement in the running community. While experiencing challenging times in working towards self-acceptance and in having the strength be authentic, we both realized that running played a big role in developing that courage.

Our intention in creating OUTrun was to simply help provide a space for other LGBTQ+ individuals to experience that same encouraging, supportive, and empowering environment. We hope to create a community of OUTrunners within the existing, and already amazing, running community.

Corey Conner at the 2019 Trail World Championships in Portugal.

We’ll be hosting group runs and meet-ups both locally in the Colorado area, as well as, at various races across the country. We will be sharing other runners stories and how the sport has helped them be more confident and proud of who they are.

The feedback and response to starting this organization has already been so positive, and we feel that this is something that the running community has needed for a long time. While the sport doesn’t always feel that diverse, the typical welcoming and kind environment that you’ll find at almost any race or group run around the country is a perfect safe place for runners to feel comfortable being themselves while connecting with others who have a shared passion for running.

More about Addie:
Addie grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, and was a team captain on the track and field and cross country teams at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She moved to Boulder, Colorado in 2012 to continue her running career and since then has won 3 USATF National Championships and represented Team USA internationally 9 times. In addition to running, Addie is a coach and is finishing her masters degree in Sport and Performance Psychology at the University of Denver. She currently represents Nike and is passionate about promoting more inclusion and LGBTQ+ representation in the sport of distance running.

More about Corey:
Corey was born and raised in Massachusetts where she grew up playing a variety of sports. She began her competitive running career in college at the University of Maine where she was All-American and a 6x NCAA Nationals Qualifier in Cross Country, Indoor, and Outdoor Track. Corey ran professionally as a post collegiate and represented Team USA several times, one of which is where she met her current partner, Addie. Recently, she signed with the Nike Trail Team and is pursuing her competitive drive as a professional trail runner. Corey is extremely passionate about being a voice for the LGBTQ+ community and seeks to provide others with a positive example of what being an openly gay athlete can look like.

OUTrun Contact information:
outrunning.org
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @_out_run
#Outrunners