Two local best friends, separated by their rival high schools and busy schedules, use running as a way to see each other and catch up. 

Now, they are using it to empower other young girls to get out running.

Sadie Bush, San Marcos High School junior, was hiking in Scotland at the Isle of Skye this past summer when inspiration hit her to create a run club. 

“I was thinking to myself, what is something that I could do this year to really make an impact on my community,” she said. 

Bush got her best friend, Shae Fitzgerald, former track runner at Santa Barbara High School, on board and got to work planning. 

“We are such close friends, but it sucks cause our lives are so separate so having running to bond over was great,” Fitzgerald said. 

After a quick name workshop, Girls Running Late SB was born — its acronym GRL, shorthand for girl, a happy coincidence.

 The club focuses on getting girls ages 12 to 18 out running. They run 2 miles once a week on Tuesdays.

Madeleine Savellano, Santa Barbara High School junior, runs every week with the club after finding the run club’s Instagram account. Since joining, she feels like she has a community she can turn to.

“What makes me come back every week is not only the opportunity to make running fun but also being able to spend time with the girls,” she said.

The girls usually run around a 10-minute mile pace. However, Bush says they are flexible to speed up or slow down depending on the group.

“Running is a thing that takes practice, and the younger you can get started, the better,” Fitzgerald said.

The club also serves as a set structured exercise time for students with busy schedules. 

“And as it gets darker again, it’s that weird window of time where you finally go out and have free time but now it is pitch black,” Bush said. 

One of the group’s main priorities is safety. They want runners to feel comfortable running at night especially as the days get shorter with Daylight Savings time ending on Nov. 2.

Over the summer, Bush’s dad would sometimes trail behind her on his bike if she went out running at night.

“Women can’t run at night and feel safe doing it, and that is sad but that is the world we live in,” Bush said. 

Her frustration over not being able to run by herself inspired the pair to have their group be a female-only space as an empowering experience.

The founders say they practice safety by being experts of the route they run and ensuring they never go past dusk.

They hope in the future they can partner with sport stores like REI to get donations of headlamps and reflective gear for the group. In the meantime, they say their biggest protection is strength in numbers and ensuring everyone stays together. 

“As it gets darker, just having all of us together I think will create such a sense of community and safety with running,” Bush said.

However, the girls hope the group transcends running and creates bonds. 

“As we develop as a group, I hope we can meet together outside of running and bring together people who might not meet outside the run club and who could become such good friends,” Bush said. 

All scheduled runs can be found on their Girls Go Running Late SB Instagram account.