It’s about running, but it’s not at all about running—that’s what the women of the New York Road Runners, a premier running organization and nonprofit based in Manhattan, will tell you as they train to reach the finish line this Women’s History Month, knowing they are racing for something beyond themselves.

Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat and Tatyana McFadden are two of those women. Kiplagat is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner, marathon winner, and former Olympian; McFadden is a record-breaking Paralympian who competed in her first Paralympic Games at the age 15 and has since won 20 Paralympic medals, as well as 24 World Major Marathon medals.