As thousands of women lace up for the 2026 Mastercard New York Mini 10K, one runner's journey started with a summer program that changed everything.

Denise Peralta first found running through Run for the Future as a teenager, stepped away for years, then found her way back thanks to the friendships she built along the way.

Peralta completed the Run for the Future program in the summer of 2015 when she was in high school.

Run for the Future not only kicked off her running journey, but it also connected her with an amazing group of women, many of whom she's still friends with 11 years later.

She took a break from running after the program until one of her fellow Run for the Future graduates encouraged her to get involved with the alumni group.

She quickly got hooked and has completed 13+ NYRR races since, including the TCS New York City Marathon.

This summer, she will also be a race buddy for the Run for the Future program. With a full-time job in social services, which can be a stressful industry, running provides relief after a long day.

The 2026 Mastercard New York Mini 10K will be covered by an all-women broadcast team featuring WABC Sports Anchor Sam Ryan, U.S. Olympians Carrie Tollefson and Alysia Montaño, and host of the "Ali on the Run Show" podcast Ali Feller. The professional fields will be covered by a livestream, distributed domestically by ESPN+ and abc7ny.com, and internationally from NYRR's YouTube channel beginning at 7:45 a.m. ET. Additional coverage will be available in the tristate area on ABC New York, Channel 7, with live news cut-ins from 6-10 a.m.

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