Running group helps Montreal mom's mental health struggles

A busy mom of two boys, working in employment law, Sacha Liben is often dashing to her next commitment.

However, running for herself offers her an outlet.

"It's a gift for me to myself," she said.

During the pandemic, she was working from home, with little interaction and then Liben found the Yamajo Running Group.

"I was feeling really lonely, really down and my husband suggested I join a running group, and now I think I've made lifelong friends with some of these people," she said.

They have been there for life's big moments.

"We recently had a Yamajo wedding and there were some of the runners who were bridesmaids. We do a lot of things together, enter soccer tournaments, do fundraisers."

They've also stepped in to help when someone needed it.

"During the teacher's strike last year, I sent a message to the group saying 'I'm having trouble with, you know, working and taking care of my kids during this time. Does anyone know anyone who I can hire to babysit?' And one of the men in the group said, 'you know, I'm on vacation.' He's an engineer, and he said he's on vacation and he would take care of my kids for me," said Liben.

The comradery doesn't end there. The group checks in on each other. When a regular runner didn't show, Sacha found out why.

"He told me that he didn't have cold weather gear," she said. "So I thought, that's a problem we can fix. So we got together with the pacer gang and we got him all the clothes that he needed."