Gilda’s Club® Nashville is offering a 15-week ½ marathon training program led by certified trainers from Vanderbilt’s Dayani Center. 2013 will be the eighth year of our Gilda’s Gang training program that will help prepare participants to run or walk the Country Music ½ Marathon.  The program is geared to all fitness levels and will be an opportunity to get fit while giving back those in Middle Tennessee who are living with cancer.

This year, there are three options for participation:

Gilda's Gang 1/2 Marathon (13.1 miles) program - 15 weeks of group training with team members, and fundraising with plenty of support along the way!

Gilda's Gang Mini-Marathon (2.6 miles) - little or NO training required, and lots of fun on race day!

Gilda's Gang Groupies - NO training, just FUN and a little fundraising!

The 2013 season will begin on Saturday, January 12 with a kick-off celebration and health fair at Gilda’s Club, starting at 9AM. The event will feature a Q&A session with the trainers, mini-clinics on stretching and injury prevention, nutrition, and selecting the right shoes and apparel for training.

The 15-week training program will include weekly Saturday morning group walk/runs led by fitness specialists, guest membership to Vanderbilt Dayani Center, personalized training plans for all levels, team discount for race registration, team shirt/hat, race day awards party, and access to Firstgiving™ - an online fundraising tool with personalized web pages. To join The Gang, all participants are asked to raise specific amounts for each program – with all monies going directly to support the free programs at Gilda's Club Nashville.

Gilda’s Gang™ began in 2006 as the inspiration of Dr. Gail Addlestone during her treatments for breast cancer. Her “idea”: to walk or run the Country Music Half-Marathon while raising funds for Gilda’s Club Nashville. In seven years, more than 850 members of Gilda’s Gang have raised $900,000 for Gilda’s Club.