My Style

Heather Gardener

When she was a health and physical-education teacher, Heather Gardner spent all day, everyday on her feet. When she made the transition in 2008 to consulting and, consequentially, sitting at a desk, it didn’t take long for her to figure out that she needed to work some structured fitness back into her life. A self-described “all-in” person, Gardner set the goal to run the New York City Marathon at one of her very first sessions with a trainer. She’s run nyc three times since then, and has run nine marathons in total.

Gardner hasn’t just committed herself to individual running goals t hough, her passion for creat ing community through fitness led her to a sort of teaching role once again in 2013, when she began one of Toronto’s first run crews – a group called Tribe. “I sent out a tweet that said ‘Hey! Who wants to go for a run?’ and included meet-up details,” Gardner says. “And t hat ver y f i r st t ime, f ive people showed up. And then it just kept getting bigger and bigger.”

Gardner, who is also a yoga instructor, began offering free yoga classes as well. Tribe has its roots in Queen’s Quay, which Gardner describes as “a condo community, so there are thousands of people, but you’re rarely talking to your neighbours. My goal is to build a sense of community and acceptance.”

Gardner has recently opened her own spinning and yoga studio, from which the Tribe crew still meets for their weekly runs.