In addition to her heady duties overseeing AASA’s legislative advocacy, Noelle Ellerson Ng also is one of the most enthusiastic road runners on the association’s 35-member staff.

Somehow, on short notice, she managed to cajole eight conference attendees here in New Orleans to turn out at 6 a.m. on the steps of the New Orleans Super Dome for a short-distance fun run to get in a bit of fitness before the start of the 2017 AASA national conference.

The AASA members, joined by Ellerson Ng and fellow AASA staffer Heidi Schmidt, braved the post-Mardi Gras streets to join a local running club for about four miles of road work. The AASA conference participants joined with the New Orleans chapter of November Project, a free fitness, non-running  group that welcomes all ages, shapes, sizes, and speeds (and all  fun lovers) for a work out at Champions Square, adjacent to  the Super Dome.

Ellerson Ng, AASA’s associate executive director of policy and advocacy, had contacted the local chapter in advance of the AASA conference.

The full back story of the November Project can be found in this short film.