Alexandra Gulyaeva

Born in Yekaterinburg, lived in Perm region since childhood, graduated from the Law Faculty of the Perm State National Research University. Creator and initiator of Perm Running Society, first Perm marathon, and trail race White trail.

Quotes

• Our society is currently separated in two uneven halves: one part is ready for responsibilities and making everyday choices, even in the simplest routine matters. And there is another part, simply not ready for this. Unfortunately, it's exactly this part defining how the smaller, active, half lives. And this is a real issue.
• My godmother once gave me a piece of advice I consider the best in my life. She said: «People doing something will always be envied and told unfair things. But those things have nothing to do with you, they tell more about person saying them. So don't pay attention».

My story

I was always a bit into sports, unprofessionally. Once I posted my wish to run a marathon, just shared my feelings on social network. And my friend Serezha Tomilov invited me to join a school that had just opened in Perm, «I love running». He offered to run 10 km, and at the end, we ran our first half-marathon in Yekaterinburg. We had just discovered running, and we saw there was everything for it in the neighbour city and nothing — in Perm.

That's how it started. We met at the coworking space Grani, and in 2016, I got acquainted with coach Vladimir Ilyich Epanov. On one of the longer runs we started talking about Perm marathon, and then stars, people, events were aligned so that together we — me, Vladimir Ilyich, Sergei — we did it.

It was a long and bumpy path. It took us two years to deliver our idea to administration of the city. It scared many people because it was huge, and it required a lot of responsibility, but now we see our idea lives in people, there was already second city marathon in Perm.

However, no event can survive isolated, so our main goal right now is to create series of events, which will be important for the community supporting new lifestyle and living on the run.

It was a very curious process. On the one hand, there were preparations for the marathon; on the other hand, it was the time when the society formed. And now those who ran Perm marathon continue running in other cities.

Last year we discussed the idea of a trail race, and were thinking, of course, of the place to do it. We didn't want it to become completely local, we wanted people to keep coming to Perm. And indeed, participants from five regions of Russia made it to White trail.

I love making a collage of wishes, it works for me. I never identified myself as a sportsman, and I want to try a lot of things: to cross Bosporus, to make a small distance on Ironman, to try myself in a cool cycling race, marathon race. I am dreaming of running together with my husband.

My views of the family, as many things in my life, are projected through my grandfather's optics. He was the example of a real man to me, he showed me the world. My whole childhood is associated mostly with my granddad.

I guess my love to Perm grows from the book «Heart of Parma». I saw place where I was living, in a different way. Right now, Perm for me is first of all people who create it. On the one hand, this city is a location, on the other, it is an emotion. City where many things have already happened for me, and there are more of them to come