Cheryl Groce-Wright
While many of us were sleeping in this morning, hundreds of cheetahs, kangaroos, zebras and dragons wearing running shoes and GPS watches left Richmond City Stadium before 7 a.m. to run miles through the city streets.
Those animal names denote the teams of runners who have been training each weekend with Sports Backers since the beginning of August for the CarMax Richmond Half Marathon, a companion to the VCU Health Richmond Marathon and Allianz Partners 8K on Saturday, Nov. 13.
Sports Backers Half Marathon Training Team Head Coach Cheryl Groce-Wright supports the early morning athletes as they prepare for race day and cheers them on as they log training miles.
“I was a cheerleader in high school,” she says. “I have the voice. I have the enthusiasm. I have the pep.”
Groce-Wright, 61, started running at 48, as a way to lose some weight and stay fit. She loved the sport so much she trained for her first Richmond Half Marathon in November 2009 at age 49. When she stood at the starting line, she remembers thinking, “I hope I can do this!”
She could, and she did, and when Groce-Wright crossed the finish line, she recalls feeling a range of emotions. Even though she was exhausted, she was empowered. “To accomplish something hard like that proves to you, you really can accomplish anything,” she says.
That feeling would later move her to coach, “to help other people feel that positive power that comes with achieving something like a half marathon,” she says. “It gives me joy to help others accomplish this for themselves.”
After her first half marathon, Groce-Wright kept running, not just because she loved it, but to save her bones. A premenopausal bone-density test revealed osteoporosis, and she learned that weight-bearing exercises such as running were the best way to strengthen her bones and prevent further deterioration. “The biggest thing is I haven’t declined,” she says. “That for me is the biggest victory at this point.”
Groce-Wright has been a Half-Marathon Training Team coach since 2012, when she began coaching the Penguins. Her own running accomplishments include four full marathons, more than 20 halfs, numerous 10K and 5K races, and two sprint triathlons.
“Cheryl’s knowledge and experience make her a great fit to lead the Sports Backers Half Marathon Training Team,” says Pete Woody, Sports Backers communications manager.
Groce-Wright runs with Half Marathon Training Team members on Hermitage Road.
Runner Ellie Nickel, who now lives in Florida, will never forget the impact Groce-Wright made in her life when she was training for past Richmond Half Marathons. “Her coaching style is amazing, always encouraging,” Nickel says. “I have always thanked my lucky stars that I can call her not only my coach, but my friend as well.”
In 2013, before the women knew each other well, Nickel was running the Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach; Groce-Wright was also there with a group of running friends.
“On the last quarter-mile of that race, I was really dragging,” Nickel recalls, “and Cheryl came up from behind me, grabbed my hand and took me across the finish line. That was a defining moment in our friendship, as I didn’t know her well, but she picked me right up. A good coach knows just when to do that. I still display the picture of us crossing the finish line in my home office.”
In 2010, Groce-Wright attempted her first full marathon but didn’t finish the race. “Even if you make it to the start and don’t finish, it is about the journey,” she says. “There’s still learning in that if you let that be the lesson.”
In February 2019, Groce-Wright ran a marathon in Florida to support breast cancer research. “I got to the halfway point, and I had stomach issues; my hips were hurting,” she recalls, “but I thought, ‘If you were a breast cancer patient, you couldn’t quit,’ so I couldn’t quit this marathon. I walked it, I persevered.” Friends, including Nickel, met her at mile 23 and walked her to the finish.
This camaraderie is why runners such as Maria Quintas-Herron don’t mind waking up early on the weekends to train. “My experience with Sports Backers started in 2013 after having trained on my own and subsequently realizing that this would be a heck of a lot more fun with people,” she says. “This was my introduction to a totally different level of training, with actual coaches who took their time with me to show me a better way to run.”
Quintas-Herron says the defining word is “fun,” which makes her want to go back for more, “so I could run with all these crazy people who shared a weird passion with me: running for a long, long, long time."
No matter what sport or hobby you choose, Groce-Wright says, “Everybody needs to find something that gives them a sense of accomplishment and that allows them to take time for themselves. It makes all the difference in your long-term health and happiness.”
Never miss a Sunday Story: Sign up for the newsletter, and we’ll drop a fresh read into your inbox at the start of each week. To keep up with the latest posts, search for the hashtag #SundayStory on Twitter and Facebook.
