Audrey Keegan Runs the Boston Marathon for Playworks New England

On April 16, Audrey Keegan, 27, of Pleasant Hill, will run in the Boston Marathon for the first time. The experienced long distance runner has completed marathons and half-marathons across the San Francisco Bay Area, but this time her run is personal and more playful. She is running to support Playworks New England.

Playworks New England, a regional branch of a national nonprofit, leverages the power of play to
transform children’s social and emotional health. Through direct-service coaching and training, Playworks partners with elementary schools, districts, and after-school programs to integrate games into recess to
create a place where every kid on the playground during recess can feel included, be active, and build valuable social and emotional skills needed to thrive in the classroom and beyond. During the 2017-2018 school year, Playworks New England is serving 75,000 students in 140 elementary schools across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

Keegan lives and breathes the Playworks mission. She works in the Learning and Development department for the organization’s national headquarters, located in Oakland, Calif. She is also a single mother to her three-year-old son, Colin, who she sees growing and learning through the power of play every day.

“The Playworks mission is important to me for so many reasons,” says Keegan. “Kids speak in the language
of play. Through play, children learn a variety of skills, including leadership, confidence, empathy, collaboration, and conflict resolution. These are the skills they will carry throughout their lives, going beyond the playground and into the classroom, our communities, and society as a whole.”

This will be Keegan’s first full marathon in three years. She completed a half marathon while eight months
pregnant with her son and considers that to be her proudest athletic achievement – until now. She is following the Level 1 Boston Marathon training plan, hitting the pavement four to five days a week, and covering about 25 miles per week. A total mind, body, and soul experience, she is also fueling her body with four to five small meals a day and increasing her protein intake.

“For me, it’s about the experience,” say Keegan. “I tend to be hard on myself, so when I miss a scheduled run or I don’t run as far as I’d anticipated, it can be easy for me to feel discouraged. I have to make an effort to remember that I’m running to raise money for Playworks and to achieve a personal goal – I’m not trying to
take home the gold!”

Keegan is joining five other members of the Playworks New England Boston Marathon Team. She will wear a
Playworks team jersey, accessorized with her lucky “C” necklace, a gift from her sister when Colin was born. Her goal is to raise $8,000. To date, she has raised more than $4,500 for the cause.

“We live in an era of so much division in our country. I believe now more than ever we need to support
anti-bullying and social-emotional development programming, not only to unify our children, but our country as a whole,” says Keegan. “Playworks works hard to create this safe space in schools where all children have the opportunity to be themselves, work together, and resolve conflicts respectfully. These are the citizens we want to be raising – the type of person I want my son to become – empathetic, inclusive, purposeful, and participatory.”

For more information about the Playworks New England Boston Marathon team or to support Audrey Keegan, visit: https://www.crowdrise.com/audr....

About Playworks New England

Playworks New England is a regional branch of a national nonprofit working to bring play and physical activity into elementary schools as a means to improve the health and well-being of children and to enhance learning. Through onsite direct-service coaching and training school faculty and staff, Playworks integrates physical activity and social and emotional learning skill-building into organized activities during recess to create a space where students feel included, are active, and build valuable social and emotional skills needed to thrive in the classroom and beyond. Entering its 12^th year, Playworks New England serves more than 75,000 students in 140 elementary schools across Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. To date, the nonprofit has served 210,000 youth. For more information, visit: http://www.playworks.org/commu....

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