Though challenged by cancer, Rebbetzin Paula Rivkin continued to reach out during the final years of her life, brainstorming ways to enrich the lives of others.

One of her newer friends during those years, Nancy Lieberman, is an athlete. Rebbitzin Rivkin, despite her numerous academic and civic achievements, was not. But after an introduction by mutual friend Paul Gallant, the two women began discussing how Lieberman, who has been doing some form of exercise daily for the past 14 years, could encourage fitness among Orthodox girls.

As president of the nonprofit Go! St. Louis, which encourages individuals and families to adopt healthy, active lifestyles, Lieberman originates and promotes community collaborations, school-based programs and fitness events.

“There was a bond between us,” Lieberman says of the two women’s relationship. It’s wasn’t in a religious sense. It was a woman-to-woman bond.” Lieberman bikes, swims, does yoga and runs.

When an estimated 15,000 participants gather downtown at 7 a.m. Sunday for the half-marathon portion of the Go! St. Louis Family Fitness Weekend, for the first time seven teen-age girls from Louis and Sarah Block Yeshiva and Esther Miller Bais Yaakov high schools will be among them. A half marathon is 13.1 miles.

Modestly attired in skirts, the Orthodox girls will be known as the Rebetzin’s Runners. Knowledge of that nomenclature, suggested by Lieberman during one of the women’s chats, “just tickled” the Rebbetzin, Lieberman says.

The wife of Chief Rabbi Emeritus Sholom Rivkin and a Jewish community leader in her own right, Rebbetzin Rivkin died last January. That same month, at a pre-dawn 6:45 a.m. two weekdays and approximately noon on Sundays, nine girls from two Orthodox Jewish high schools here began practicing with their coach, Kate Friedman. Lieberman joined them on Sundays in Forest Park.

So long as the temperature was at least 25 degrees, the girls met to huff, puff, wince, walk and eventually, to run 2 miles on weekdays from U. City Shul to the University City Loop and then 2 miles back. Next, the girls would stretch for 15 minutes and return home for a quick shower, then dress to arrive at school by 8:30 a.m. for Judaic and general studies lasting until after 5 p.m.

In contrast, half-marathon competitors from the public schools, which typically end at 2:30 p.m., would practice after school with multiple coaches.

On Sundays and following Go! St. Louis recommendations, the Orthodox girls gradually built up to tripling the length of their weekday runs. Their team originally included Samantha Deutsch, Shira Feen, sisters Chana and Devorah Heit, Dori Markowitz, Tali Shapiro, Michal Sundy, Shira Seigel and Sara Esrig. Seigel and Esrig were sidelined due to other commitments and injuries.

On race day, the emphasis will be upon finishing and walking when necessary, not upon coming in first.

Teammate Shira Feen, a freshman at Block Yeshiva, sums up training this way: “It was crazy at the beginning. We couldn’t even do a mile. Now I love it. I have the experience of running for life.”

Block Yeshiva sophomore Devorah Heit has a new mental and physical image. No longer seeing herself as “out of shape,” she finds running “really cool, actually.”

Like the girls, coach Friedman had early morning obstacles to overcome. In her case, she had to nurse her 1-year-old daughter Adira, before leaving her in the care of her dad, Robert.

A former coach and physical education teacher at the two Orthodox high schools, Friedman hopes her team learns from training and running that “there’s nothing they can’t do. It’s conquering the unknown. It’s empowering for them.”

Like other half-marathon participants, the girls have received running shoes and official paraphernalia including short-sleeve, royal-blue race-day shirts. As a special gift, the Orhodox girls also designed and received long-sleeve navy blue t-shirts with Rebbitzen’s Runners in pink letters.

With encouragement from participants, Go! St. Louis is considering lengthening to up to six months, the student lead-up programs to the half marathon. Presented by PNC Bank and introduced in 2003, the half-marathon has grown to the most popular event during the two-day Go! St. Louis Marathon and Family Fitness weekend and one of the nation’s largest half marathons.

Though Lieberman, of Go! St. Louis, oversees over the entire weekend, she admits a special fondness for the Rebbetzin’s Runners. The team, she says, “is part of the Rebbitzen’s legacy. She’ll be here in spirit.”

Complete with marathon relay, 5K run/walk, children’s fun runs and the “mature mile” for those age 60 and older, the April 9-10 annual downtown event is expected to draw more than 20,000 participants. For information, visit www.gostlouis.org.