Mary Ngugi, a professional runner, has trained in Nyahururu City, Kenya, for decades.
She competes all over the world, but there’s one race in New England that keeps calling her back: the Boston Marathon.
“I’ve run it five times,” 36-year-old Ngugi said. “So, I don’t think I know any other course better than the Boston Marathon.”
Ngugi, who said that she loves the energy in Boston, is now gearing up to run her sixth Boston Marathon since 2019 next week. Training has been going well, she said, and she hasn’t dealt with any injuries. Plus, she knows the young girls she coaches back home at Nala Track Club will be cheering for her.
“They’re always watching me,” she said. “I’m not just racing for myself, I’m racing for them as well.”
Ngugi founded Nala Track Club in 2022 to provide young girls from across Kenya a safe and empowering place to train. More than a dozen athletes aged 15 to 20 currently live at the camp in a house just a few minutes down the road from Ngugi’s own home. Someday, she said, she hopes to coach one of the girls at the Olympics.
“In the morning, they go out for training. [Then, they] come back to camp, shower, have breakfast, go to school,” she said. “And then, from school, [they] come back to camp. So, camp is like home.”
Ngugi said training volume varies, but each athlete runs around 50 miles per week. Some of the girls even travel internationally to compete, and one runner recently received a scholarship to compete for Washington State University.
Getting stronger and faster is a key part of Nala Track Club, which has been sponsored by Nike since 2024. But what’s more important to Ngugi and Nala’s coaching staff is safeguarding young girls from Kenya’s history of gender-based violence.
“There’s been history, and there’s been cases where girls have been abused,” she said. “Even if they’re not abused, they’re intimidated. They feel like they don’t have a voice. Like, they’re minor.”
Ngugi said she knew about this history for years, and had always wanted to create a better future for the next generation. The final straw was when Agnes Tirop, another professional runner from Kenya, was found murdered in October 2021. Tirop’s husband, Ibrahim Rotich, was soon arrested and charged with her murder. He pleaded not guilty but has yet to stand trial.
Ngugi chose the name Nala Track Club for a reason — nala is a Swahiliword meaning “queen” and “lioness,” which is exactly how she wants the girls to feel.
“These girls, when they join us, some of them are really quiet, they don’t want to speak, they’re shy, they’re not confident,” Ngugi said. “And then, in camp, we are like, ‘You can be who you want to be. You can be confident. You can dance.’”
Ngugi added that within even a few weeks, she sees the girls’ entire demeanor change.
“They are happy, they’re smiling. They’re not afraid to speak their mind. They’re not afraid to say what they think or what they want,” she said.
Ngugi also makes sure the young athletes know they have options. If running doesn’t work out, they can be a coach, a physical therapist or a photographer. Historically, Ngugi explained, those jobs have been dominated by men in Kenya.
But not at Nala Track Club.
“When I grew up, I didn’t know a female coach. I was never coached by a female coach,” she said. “And I think it’s good for the girls to see women in power.”
Ngugi will race in the elite field at the 129th Boston Marathon on April 21.
