MEET THE TEAM

Nicole brings passion, experience and an unwavering love of the sport to everything she does. Whether she’s helping runners earn their Six Star medal through the Gold Club, cheering on the global community through the Global Run Club, or secretly racing her colleagues in monthly challenges, she’s always connecting people through running… 

How long have you worked at Abbott World Marathon Majors? 
I joined the team just over two years ago. I’d previously worked at Running USA, at the time when Dawna Stone was CEO. Once she became the head of Abbott World Marathon Majors, she reached out with an opportunity, and I jumped at the chance to join this amazing team. 

You are Director of Special Programs, what does that involve? 
It’s a big job! One of my main responsibilities is our Gold Club. We launched this in 2024 as a way to bring the Majors closer to runners and provide access and opportunities around the Majors that hadn’t been available previously. We host numerous activities and events at each of the Majors for our Gold Club members, we have a masterclass each training season hosted by Martin Yelling and Deena Kastor (how many runners get to say they got training guidance from a world-renowned running coach and an Olympian?!), there’s VIP access and invitations to special events, and lots of other benefits. 

Our draw program is something else I manage; we understand how important it is for runners to get into these special races, and how difficult it can be. Our goal with the draw program is to help as many runners as possible get an entry into the Majors and complete their goal of earning that Six Star Medal. I also manage our Global Run Club – our virtual global running community. 

Tell us more about the Global Run Club?  
This is such a fun project! It launched during the pandemic to connect with our runners when no in-person races were happening. Since then, it’s grown to this amazing worldwide community of runners taking part in virtual challenges each month. Our challenges focus on marathon training, cross-training, and just staying active. We also offer chances for runners to earn race entries, or win prize packs. Runners can earn draw entries through our Road to the Majors challenge series, and compete for an invitation to the Marathon Tours and Travel Age Group World Championships event through our Global Marathon challenges. If you’re not a part of this community yet, join us!  We have a lot of fun. 

Are you a member yourself?
I am! It provides the perfect motivation for me to make sure I carve out time to get my runs in. I like to also secretly compete against my colleagues – although it’s not much of a competition, I’m always the caboose! 

What do you love most about your job? 
This is hard to choose, but I think my favorite thing about my job is meeting all the runners. Running is so much more than just crossing that finish line. Every runner has a story, every story has its challenges, and behind every one of those challenges is a runner who’s conquered it. I find it so inspiring!  Running has a way of connecting people, and to be able to be surrounded by that every day is something I don’t take for granted. 

Tell us more about your running life…
Running plays such a special role in my life. It’s given me so much. I actually met my husband through running! We were on the same training team for our first marathon! Like many, I’ve had a lot of ups and downs – my husband calls me the Comeback Queen – with pregnancies and injuries, I’ve had more than my share of comebacks. I am working through an injury recovery now actually, but I’ll be back! I’ve done 14 marathons (so far) and am not planning to hang up my running shoes just yet. 

  

Have you taken part in any of the Majors?
I’ve run just one of the Majors, Chicago. The energy and vibe throughout the entire race was just electric. I’ll never forget the feeling of running through Chinatown, and just how loud and massive the crowds were – it was incredible.   

What is top of your bucket list? 
This is a long list! But one day I would love to run a marathon with my sons…I’ll let them pick which one!