PHOTOS: How women came together to run the 295 cities of Santa Catarina

In 295 days, women will run through all municipalities in Santa Catarina. The objective is to show the tourist attractions of the cities of Santa Catarina and encourage other people to practice physical activity. The proposal is part of the Catarina Running challenge, which began on March 20, and was created by physical education teacher Ricardo Polidoro, together with students Caroline Moraes and Eduarda Nery.

Receive news from Santa Catarina via WhatsApp

According to Ricardo, the idea came to him when he was running on the beach with Caroline. The Physical Education teacher began to question what motivates a person to wake up at 4:30 am to practice physical activity and what the reality would be in the different municipalities of Santa Catarina.

Athlete from SC participates in unprecedented experiment on the benefits of Cannabis: “I stopped feeling pain”

—Is it the beach? Is it the environment? Is it the boardwalk? Is it seeing more people running or is it a video that someone watches on social media and ends up motivating someone else to run? Is this inspiration, is this what motivates? […] We know that in some cities there are one, two, three people who run, small towns, but what motivates that person to run? — asks Ricardo.

And it was with the aim of understanding the reality of street runners in the cities of Santa Catarina that Catarina Running was created. The project has the support of a sports consultancy, which contributes by providing a physical education teacher and a nutritionist for the participants.

— In case you had a student from a city who was just starting out, because there’s no point in launching a project without having responsibility. It’s not just putting on sneakers and running out — she says.

Check out the photos of Catarina Running

295 cities in 295 days

According to Ricardo, each participant represents a city in Santa Catarina in the challenge. The proposal is for the volunteers to run 5 kilometers and show, in a video, the city’s main tourist attractions, in addition to talking about what motivated them to start running.

— Run for a minute and try to demonstrate the culture, talk a little about the city, about the race in that woman’s life. That’s the challenge […]. Each runner demonstrates her city in one minute with her eyes, her legs and her heart — says the teacher.

Records are shared on Catarina Running’s social networks once a day.

Cinthia Andruchak Freitas, 40 years old, is one of the participants in the challenge. Representing Florianópolis, the journalist was one of the first people to be invited to participate in the “difficult, but not impossible” project, as she mentions.

— As I already have an Instagram profile focused on racing, I thought it had everything to do with my goal on this social network and that I could contribute — says Cinthia.

A runner for 15 years, the volunteer started practicing the sport following recommendations from her cardiologist. Over the years, she has participated in a marathon (42 kilometers), an ultramarathon (52 kilometers) and half marathons (21 kilometers).

Have you ever had the famous shin splints? Find out how it appears

— Running is inclusive and I see that, for many women, it is also an activity that brings self-confidence, improves self-esteem and shows that we have no limits. We can get wherever we want — she says.

Born in Rio do Sul, in Alto Vale, Kátia Regina, aged 58, is also one of the Catarina Running volunteers. She says she found out about the project through social media and joined the challenge after being invited by a friend.

— I see that this is a movement that is not of one person, that is not of a group, it is a movement of 295 women whose purpose is to motivate and encourage other women to seek, in physical activity, a way to have a quality of better life. A way to find a possibility of self-challenge, self-reflection, to be able to free themselves and understand that street racing takes place in a democratic time and space — says Kátia.

The challenge has an end date: March 2025. According to Ricardo, the last race should take place together with the Praia Grande ballooning festival, in the south of Santa Catarina, during the moment the balloons are in the air.

Watch the video of Catarina Running in Florianópolis

read more

10 benefits of running for health and weight loss

Find out why you should stretch your body before and after physical activity