Founding Stories: Stroller Warriors® Keesler

By Yvonne Z.

I heard about the Stroller Warriors® Running Club at Ramstein, Germany, where I am originally from. My husband and I attended a 5K fun run which was organized by an organization called the “KMC 5K Runners”. The Stroller Warriors Ramstein, Germany had a table there with some info about them and I instantly liked what I saw! This was in 2017.

Stroller running was brand new to me, since I had just had my daughter and I thought joining the Stroller Warriors sounds promising. I joined the group and my good friend and I attended a few workouts in the local area. I felt right at “home” going to the workouts. Shortly after I had discovered Stroller Warriors Ramstein, we received orders to Keesler, Mississippi, which was my very first PCS and the first time moving away from home. The Stroller Warriors community was super helpful, giving me lots of tips and advise that they have gained with their past moves. I was sad that I had found them so close to our PCS, but was looking forward to our new adventure.

Once at Keesler I drove around the base to explore our new home while my husband had his first day at work. We were still living in the Temporary Lodging Facility (TLF) and my daughter and I were out and about. One of the first things I noticed was the beautiful running track that bends around the flight line adjacent to the Biloxi Back Bay. Coming from Germany I always wanted to live close to water and was in awe of how beautiful the scenery was. “With such a nice running track, there must be a SW chapter on base” was the first thought that crossed my mind.

Back in TLF I took my laptop and started searching for a SW chapter but couldn’t find one. I emailed Headquarters (HQ) to verify. HQ answered quickly saying that there was not a chapter yet and asked me If I would be interested in starting one… I filled out the questionnaire to launch a chapter right then and there, two days after arriving at Keesler.

Of course I had doubts if I would be able to “pull it off” since my time with Stroller Warriors in Germany had been so short and I didn’t have time to really get to know the club, BUT with full support from my husband and my fantastic Regional Mentor, Kim B., I was able to build up the chapter.

On March 22nd, 2018 we officially launched our Keesler chapter with a fantastic inaugural workout. We had a great turnout, the weather was perfect and everybody had a great time. I remember that after the workout I was so pumped. I didn’t remember what I had said in my speech or anything, but I felt happy and confident that this was going to be an amazing adventure.

SW Keesler's Fearless Founder, Yvonne, with her daughter.

I was incredibly lucky to have had quite a few Warriors in the group from the day our Facebook group launched, who posted their running stories, photos and motivated others to do so as well. I am so thankful for them. They will always be a big part of building up the chapter.

Just a few weeks ago we celebrated our ONE year Runniversary with a birthday party themed workout and also kicked off our second round of Couch to 5K (C25K)!! It was a very special day for me and made me reflect on the past year and all the accomplishments and friendships I was able to make with the chapter.

The only way to describe this past year is that is was phenomenal! We had an incredible kick
off, motivated Warriors from the get go, we dedicated several workouts to charity organizations,
held donation drives for Fisher House and Toys for Tots, we also had so much fun putting our
first Mini Warrior program together and had a very successful first round of C25K in the Fall of 2018.

Wear Blue: Run to Remember Run

Most importantly, we built each other up, made friendships that will last a lifetime and celebrated personal goals, no matter how big or small. I can’t wait to see what this next year holds for us as a chapter. We are growing and are well- known throughout the base and surrounding military installations. So far I have received nothing but positive feedback, which makes me very proud.

We are currently working on our chapter specific logo and I can’t wait to proudly wear our own
Keesler specific Stroller Warrior gear soon.

Mini Warriors Graduation Race!

WE are Stroller Warriors Keesler - Running the Gulf Coast!

Thank you so much for sharing your story Yvonne!
We have no doubt that with your guidance Stroller Warriors Keesler will continue to grow and create many lasting memories!

If you’re a Chapter Founder and would like your story featured please email me at [email protected]! If you’re interested in founding a chapter and bringing
Stroller Warriors to your location, please follow these instructions.