When Sarah Bowen Shea talks about discovering pickleball, she doesn’t describe it as finding a new hobby.
She talks about it as a turning point.
For more than a decade, Sarah has been known as one of the voices behind Another Mother Runner, the community she co-founded with Dimity McDowell to support women navigating motherhood, fitness, and the challenge of carving out time for themselves. Through books, podcasts, training programs, retreats, and countless conversations, Sarah helped create a space where women could pursue athletic goals while balancing the realities of everyday life.
Running had long been a defining part of her identity. She completed 14 marathons, qualified for the Boston Marathon twice, and built a career around encouraging women to stay active and connected through sport.
Then, in late 2021, pickleball entered the picture.
“I truly feel it was my destiny to discover pickleball because it made a profound, positive change in my life,” she said.
The discovery happened at Rancho La Puerta, a wellness resort in Mexico that Sarah had visited several times for work. She had noticed the pickleball courts and admits the sport’s quirky name intrigued her, but she never made time to try it. During one visit, she finally signed up for a beginner lesson.
That was all it took.
“By the end of the hour, we were playing actual games—and I never looked back from there.”
Like many players who suddenly find themselves rearranging schedules around court time, Sarah spent the rest of the week tracking down anyone willing to play. When she returned home to Portland, she immediately bought a paddle and started looking for places to play.
What surprised her wasn’t just how much she enjoyed the game itself. It was the people.
For years, her athletic life had revolved around running and swimming, two sports she loves but that can be deeply solitary. Pickleball offered something different. There was competition, certainly, but there was also conversation, laughter, and the kind of easy camaraderie that seems to happen naturally between games.
“The combination of competition and socializing is what made it stick for me,” she said. “I loved how much laughter and silly banter is shared between points.”
In some ways, that sense of connection shouldn’t have been surprising. After all, community has been at the center of Sarah’s work for years.
Another Mother Runner grew out of a friendship between two women training for the 2007 Nike Women’s Marathon while raising young children. Sarah’s twins were just four years old at the time. The conversations she and McDowell were having about motherhood and running resonated with other women who were trying to balance family responsibilities with their own goals and interests.
What started as blogging for Runner’s World eventually became the bestselling book Run Like a Mother, published in 2010. From there, the community expanded organically into podcasts, training programs, memberships, events, and retreats.
Looking back, Sarah believes the success of Another Mother Runner came from a simple idea.
“We created AMR to be a supportive, entertaining community that encouraged busy women to put themselves first on their to-do list at least once a day, reminding them that it makes them more productive, fulfilled, engaged, and healthy.”
That philosophy has never really been about running. It’s about giving women permission to invest in themselves. And in a funny way, pickleball arrived at exactly the right moment in Sarah’s life.
Her children were older and away at college. The demands of parenting had shifted. Her running looked different than it had during her marathon years. Like many people entering a new stage of life, she suddenly had room to explore something new.
What she found was not only a sport but a new network of friendships and support.
Today, many of Sarah’s closest friendships revolve around pickleball. She laughs when she talks about how many text messages arrive each day from pickleball friends. There are group chats, league updates, weekend trips, and gatherings that extend well beyond the court.
Her favorite group is what she affectionately calls her “Pickleball Posse,” nine women who have been playing together every week for more than two years.
“The vibe of our group is phenomenal—we are all competitive, yet we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” she said.
That balance seems to capture Sarah’s approach to sports in general. She enjoys competition. She wants to improve. She wants to win.
But she also understands that the relationships matter more than the score.
Those relationships are part of what continues to draw her to pickleball. The sport has introduced her to people she never would have met otherwise and given her a social outlet during a season of life when it could have been easy to become isolated.
“I really shudder to think how insular my life would be if I hadn’t discovered and fallen deeply in love with pickleball,” she said.
As someone who works from home and whose children no longer live nearby, the court has become a place where friendships are formed, maintained, and strengthened.
It’s also become a place where Sarah has discovered a different side of herself as an athlete.
For most of her life, she viewed herself through the lens of endurance sports. Pickleball challenged that perception. Suddenly, success wasn’t measured by pace or finish times. It was about strategy, anticipation, hand-eye coordination, and quick decisions.
“While I bring my strength and speed to the court, it’s a real thrill to realize I have quick reflexes, good hand-eye coordination, and a strategic mind.”
Perhaps even more importantly, the sport reminded her what it feels like to be new at something.
Many adults spend years getting comfortable with what they know. Pickleball forced Sarah to learn again, make mistakes again, and improve through repetition.
“Adopting a beginner’s mindset is a gift, especially in middle age,” she said.
It’s one of the reasons she believes pickleball has become such a powerful force for connection. The sport meets people where they are. It doesn’t require years of training or expensive equipment. Families play together. Friends bring friends. Complete strangers become regular partners.
Sarah has played across the country and says one thing continues to stand out.
“Playing pickleball continually reminds me that we all have more in common than we might initially think.”
That belief feels especially meaningful coming from someone who has spent years building communities around sport.
Whether through running or pickleball, Sarah has seen firsthand how movement can bring people together, create friendships, and help people discover parts of themselves they didn’t know were there.
Today, she continues her work with Another Mother Runner through Feisty Media, hosting podcasts, writing newsletters, planning events, and helping women stay connected through sport. She’s also looking forward to FeistyFest, a multi-sport celebration that combines many of the activities she loves, including running, swimming, strength training, and pickleball.
But if there’s one thread that ties all of Sarah’s work together, it’s helping people feel connected through sport.
Long before she discovered pickleball, she was helping women find that connection.
Now, thanks to a beginner lesson on a court in Mexico, she’s found a little more of it herself.
