Debbie Voiles

Deb is the founder of Run Tampa, leads most weekend runs, manages the website, sends newsletters and generally works to represent the interests of local runners.

As much as she loves running and coaching, she loves people even more.

After writing her book, After Your First 5k, she started the Mojo for Running Podcast, and later, the Beginner Runner Village Podcast, together downloaded over a million times.

Run Tampa was a happy accident. As a trail runner, Deb discovered most people weren’t running trails because they didn’t know where they were and weren’t comfortable going into the wilderness alone. This led her to start organizing group runs.

As numbers grew, it was only natural to want to plan social events and travel to races, together. The Run Tampa Club was born, and now, it has 500 members.

Deb started running when struggling to lose a few extra pounds after the birth of daughter, Wendy, in 1977; she’s been running ever since, and no, she has no knee problems.

In 2017, Deb joined forces with Actor Director Liz Vassey to make a documentary film about running, The Human Race documentary, which features Run Tampa members along with running icon Kathrine Switzer, available on Apple, Amazon, and YouTube.

As thrilling as it was to be a part of The Human Race, the highlight of her running career was qualifying for the Boston Marathon and running it at the age of 65, but that just proves the premise of the film, that any age is the right age to run and to continue to achieve new fitness goals.