Molly Barker
On a summer night in July 1993, Molly Barker, then 32, went out for a run. The air was heavy with an impending thunderstorm. Around Mile 5, Barker had an epiphany. She needed to stop drinking or it would kill her.
A promotion photo from Ironman in 1989.
Barker began running with her mother when she was 14 years old, when her mother was newly sober. Her mother started running when women just didn’t do that. But Barker recalls seeing her mother’s “wings unfurl” because of running. Their household, Barker says, went from black and white to technicolor, like The Wizard of Oz.
In a bit of dark irony, Barker took her first drink at 15 years old merely out of curiosity, to see what all the hype was about.
It dulled her anxiety and trauma from growing up in an alcoholic household. So she kept drinking. Barker became a triathlete and competed at elite levels, including four Ironman events in Hawaii.
But “there was no winning, ever,” Barker says, of trying to balance her alcoholism and relentless training regimen.
Barker calls that July 1993 run life-changing. It inspired her to create a program for young girls to accept who they are, with grace and pride, and celebrate themselves. She launched Girls on the Run in 1996 at a site in North Carolina with 13 girls.
The program, which combined exercise and mental health, was designed for girls in late elementary school—the age when they’re at risk of falling into what Barker calls, “the Girl Box.” The Girl Box, she says, is a place where young girls start to hide in an effort to fit in with the social pressures of what it means to be a girl.
Girls on the Run quickly grew and now has sites in all 50 states and in Canada.
The first Girls on the Run group in 1996.
Barker recalls her first Girls on the Run session; a girl in too-big-shorts walked up to Barker and asked who she was. Barker said she was their coach, and the girl, Adelaide, told Barker to, “come on over.”
“That framed everything,” Barker says. “It wasn’t like me coaching them or me teaching them. We were all in this together. It still makes me almost cry. There was this kindred feeling there.”
In 2013, Barker left her official position with Girls on the Run to pursue other activism opportunities. She was one of 30 Americans selected by the Bipartisan Policy Center to serve on the Commission on Political Reform, which examines the country’s political divide and proposes reforms.
Barker started Red Boot Way, a cross-country project during which she spoke with people in their hometowns and developed a program to teach intentional listening skills—walking in another person’s shoes. She has been active with Beyond Sober, Mission 34, and Vision Possible.
Today, Barker is back in North Carolina, after spending years living a minimalist lifestyle in Marfa, Texas. She calls herself “undefined and free.” Barker is still involved with Girls on the Run, from a distance. She attends local events but prefers to be a fly on the wall than wear her founder’s hat. Barker is also heavily involved in grassroots programs around affordable housing and assisting those with housing insecurity.
The Girls on the Run founder was recognized by George W. Bush and Barack Obama with a Daily Point of Light Award presented at a White House ceremony and she was named a Distinguished Alumna from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. In 2012, Fast Company added her to its “League of Extraordinary Women.” In 2006, Runner’s World selected Barker as one of its “heroes of running,” and in 2015, the magazine named her one of the most 50 influential people in running.
Barker has written several books, including Girls on Track: A Parent's Guide to Inspiring Our Daughters to Achieve a Lifetime of Self-Respect and Healthy Living, which helped bring the Girls on the Run program into the home. Editor’s Note: The program has changed since the publication of this book in 2004, but Barker says the essence of Girls on the Run has remained the same.
Barker has two children and one grandchild. These days, her running routine consists of slow miles on the trails in North Carolina. But she still trains vigorously on the bike. When asked if she would have benefited from a program like Girls on the Run as a child, Barker hesitates.
“I have no regrets or shame,” she says. “In some ways, I'm grateful for them because they've brought me to where I am now.” Her struggle and recovery from alcoholism taught her about her own strength. But, she says, a program may have helped her wake up to her destructive habits earlier.
Barker visiting a Girls on the Run group in 2025.
Barker calls herself a grandmother to Girls on the Run now; nearly 30 years after she created it. To young girls, regardless of whether they’re participating in Girls on the Run, Barker would say:
“Everything you need is right there, I’d point to where her heart is. Everything you absolutely need in this world is right there. I promise you.”
Note about the author: Heather Mayer Irvine is the former food and nutrition editor for Runner’s World and the author of the Runner’s World Vegetarian Cookbook. She is an avid runner who has been covering running, nutrition, and health for more than two decades. Mayer Irvine’s work has appeared in Runner’s World, Men’s Health, Outside, and Scholastic. She is based in Pennsylvania with her husband and three kids. IG: @runsonfuel
