Run Your Mouth: FEMMI Run Club

Femmi is a running app and community founded by experienced runners, Esther Keown and Lydia O'Donnell to empower women through movement. They offer personalised training plans based on female physiology, expert advice, and weekly group runs across Australia and New Zealand. Focused on connection and confidence over competition, Femmi creates an inclusive, supportive space for all women.

Learn a bit more about Esther and Lydia below and check out the Femmi website here, for a club near you! 

Hey Lydia and Esther - can you tell us a bit more about yourselves, how Femmi started and what did you have for breakfast today?

LO: I’m Lyds, a kiwi born aussie based run coach, athlete, and confounder of Femmi alongside my bestie Est! I began coaching running over 10 years ago, have worked as the Nike Head Run Coach since 2015 and specialized in coaching women in 2018/2019. Femmi was founded in 2020 off the back of our lived experience as women athletes who suffered in a system built by men. We also noticed a huge lack of women run clubs and thought a women led community was overdue. We formed Femmi to celebrate our incredible female physiology and to keep women running. 

This morning, and every morning, I had eggs on toast! My staple to start the day. 

EK: Hey there, I am Esty, Est or Esther. I am from Aotearoa and a co-founder of Femmi. Running has been a huge part of my life since the age of 13, since then a lot of my travel, work and friendships have come from running. I have been a run and strength coach for nearly 10 years now and love it. Although running has shaped my life there were very challenging times I experienced in my teens where I was winning world titles but punishing my body. From that experience alongside Lyds we realised our story was shared by many. Women were taught exercise and performance was about how you look, not how you feel - which couldn’t be further from the truth. We came together to change that narrative through Femmi.

For Breaky I had a smoothie - berries, banana, pea protein, chia seeds, flaxseed, soy milk, peanut butter and a few other goodies. Lush.

Do you remember your first time running as Femmi? How does it feel to see how much the community run groups have grown over the past few years?

LO: I vividly remember the first Femmin Run Community we hosted in Melbourne, Australia. We invited women to run with us at Tanaka Coffee shop in Carlton and honestly, I had no expectation of how many women would come out. It was in the middle of the pandemic, when we only had small gaps to meet in person, but it was overwhelming to see how many women were instantly drawn to join us.  Now, with over 20 communities around the world, I am just incredibly grateful for the army of women who are on this movement with us.

EK: Sadly, for me, I wasn’t in Melbourne for the first official Femmi run but seeing it through socials and hearing about it from Lyds was really special. I had the pleasure of starting the Auckland run community not too long after that, the growth of Femmi RC has been incredible to see. We’ve been asked before if women really need a safe space to connect and from the growth and positive impact Femmi RC has had, it’s pretty clear they do.

What has been your favourite moment of the Femmi journey so far? It doesn't matter how big or small!

LO: Every time we get to attend a Femmi Run Community in person means everything to me. To see the connection point of women we’ve been able to facilitate, to see the deep friendships that have grown at Femmi and to see hundreds of women carrying an inspiring level of confidence, it always brings me back to our why. Why we do what we do. To empower women in movement. To show women how truly strong they are and to celebrate how capable we are, particularly as a collective. 

EK: Hearing from the community about the impact of Femmi on their lives. Hearing from women who have run PB’s while keeping their cycles regular, have found community through Femmi Fridays, who have changed their behavior toward food and exercise - now seeing it as a positive, important piece of their wellbeing not something to be used as punishment. Hearing how Femmi has changed their lives is fuel to the fire. Both Lyds and I have experienced that change so to hear from others that they’re also feeling better and more confident than ever is really fulfilling.

Femmi now has community runs all across Australia but also the UK, New Zealand and the US. Where is one country you’d love to start a new group? Or your favourite country in the world to run - for whatever reason!

LO: I am currently in Mexico City and about to run the Nike After Dark Tour here. The energy is incredible! The sport of running is growing so rapidly across the world and being able to give more women the opportunity to run has always been our dream. I would love Femmi to continue to build safe environments for women in countries where running is more difficult due to safety reasons. If we can encourage groups of women to run together, we believe we can empower even more women to run.

EK: Similar to Lyds here - places where women need safety in numbers. When women feel unsafe they will often just opt not to run outdoors so if we can be in places where women are more unsafe then we can help more women get outside, get running and reap the benefits of being part of a womens community!

You just did a long run with your mates… where would you go for a meal and what are you ordering?

LO: Femmi is very much about cute cafes with good coffee (or matcha for me!) and great eggs. Why? Because a woman needs her protein!! I am very much a scrambled egg on toast with a side of avo kind-of-women. And I will take my matcha iced on oat milk, thanks! 

EK: Defo a cafe that does their scrambled eggs in that way that is fluffy and whipped, there is nothing better. I am similar to Lyds and love eggs on toast with avo! But swap out the oat milk for soy please.

What in the world is inspiring you right now? It can be anything - a book, a place, a person…

LO: I am constantly inspired by the women in our community. Women who are willing to work hard and not only prove to themselves how strong they can be, but prove to the world how powerful we, as a gender, are. I love hearing the stories of these women and how they found the sport of running and the journey they’ve been on. What inspires me the most is when I see other women bringing other women up. The Female Athlete Project (a women's sport focused media channel) speaks about ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’ and I couldn’t agree with this more!! 

EK: For me currently it’s The wild west. I live in a small surf town on the West Coast of Aotearoa called Whāingaroa (Raglan). I actively watch the rain radar so I can run in the rain, the more natural elements the better (but not gail force winds hah). I love running hills, off road, muddy, along the coast it fires me up and makes me feel strong. Raglan is an incredibly healing place, filled with beautiful nature and challenging terrain. At the moment I am inspired by this place and I am finally able to smash some hills again after a long achilles battle! Yass!

What are some of your upcoming goals - running, personal or professional?

LO: We have huge goals for Femmi. We understand the responsibility we carry as female founders, building one of the first women centric sports tech companies, and we are incredibly determined to reach our goals of creating the largest women's running community in the world. As Femmi is present in the omnifitness industry, we are excited to see our digital product scale and our physical run communities expand across the world. 

EK: What Lyds said!! Then personally my goal is to detach from my thoughts/running identity. In the past I have let my ego in running get in the way, being so attached to the identity of myself as a runner that it takes the joy away from the journey. I don’t want times, PBs and expectations to steal the beauty of running. So my goal is to just not think that deeply about it, let the thoughts come as they may but not ruminate on them. Let them slide on by and run for the love of it.