Hi, I’m Erin Molloy. LadySouthpaw.com is my art project and labor of love.

Lady Southpaw is an old nickname, a fitness alter ego, a band name, an art project, a desire to create in the zone…

Often, I feel like I’m fighting this daily mental static. Running and making music both help me break out of it. Some call it flow, a runner’s high, or the zone. That’s what I’m chasing when I do “Lady Southpaw” stuff.

My first love is the arts, all and anything art. It’s what drew me from Michigan where I grew up to New York where I’ve lived about as long.

The nickname Lady Southpaw came from a boxing class. Despite always being lefty, I learned lots of things right-handed out of convenience, like playing guitar. When it came to learning boxing, I was adamant about taking a southpaw stance. There was already a guy nicknamed “Southpaw” in the class, so the instructor called me, “Lady Southpaw.” Once a week I was Lady Southpaw and it was empowering. It felt like what I would later I recognize as a “runner’s high.” I wanted to capture that feeling.

The first time I posted my original music to the internet, I felt a little weird about using my full name. Lady Southpaw was the closest thing I had to a nickname at the time and, well, it stuck. It felt like a superhero alias and took some pressure off of everyday normal me.

Then, I got more serious about running, I discovered that I could tap this runner’s high feeling by running in sync to music. Most of this website is about running music. I obsessed over beats per minute, steps per minute and the history of the NYC Marathon. Marathoners Rocking New York is a concept album that is both a microcosm of the marathon route in song and a story about a 70’s punk fan running it for the first time. The whole thing is in a reliable 180bpm (or a little higher near the end.) It’s in the style of the Ramones meet Blondie and Patti Smith.

More recently I was contacted by author Christopher McDougall to write a song for Born to Run 2.

Nowadays, my main pursuit is raising my two boys alongside my husband and Lady Southpaw Band bassist, Andrew. We also have a little black dog named Metsy who we are lovingly dressed as in the portrait above. 

Yet, I still get the itch to create music, art, and to write. Mostly, I sketch on my iPad or record my music and spoken word. This website is a place where I can share it and keep chasing that feeling.

I am also an RRCA certified running coach and have started working on ways to help people use music and cadence to enjoy running more. You can sign up for a free consultation here or try a customized running playlist here.