I wasn’t born a runner, I didn’t have professionally athletic parents, and I knew very little about the sport. In fact, I spent most of my childhood being trained as a dancer and stage performer. Because of this, I like to think that running found me. It found me when I needed it most and I clung to it like a steady current in rocky waters.
I ran my first mile at the age of 12 and I still remember my time: 7 minutes and 44 seconds. It wasn’t great but it was good enough to have a solid foundation for success. My Coach sought out more from me, my times dropped significantly, I led the way for the girl’s team, I gave and I gave until I couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t want to give anymore. By the time I graduated high school I was burned out from running Cross Country and Track for someone that didn’t have the same vision I did and unfortunately I left that part of my life with a bitter taste in my mouth.
I still loved running though and when life grew tough, I craved it. It was a place of solitude. A place to sort out my thoughts, to escape, to thrive and in some cases, survive. It helped me heal after the death of my older sister, it dried tears of lost love, it mended broken relationships and it helped me realize the importance of forgiveness. And I decided I needed more of it.
I didn’t enjoy training as much as I did racing. Racing is where I felt alive but I grew tired of running 5ks. When I reached college I decided instead of joining a team, for fear of repeating the same coaching experience, I would train myself. It was a great deal of self-learning, reading Runner’s World, taking advice with a grain of salt and trial and error but it worked for me. I moved up to the half marathon distance and found my new “happy place”.
But, like all good things, we find a point in time where we plateau, where we search for more. I knew I needed a challenge so I set my sights on the Boston Marathon but first I had to complete a marathon so I chose one half way around the world in a little town called Sonthofen, Germany. It was there, in the middle of the German Alps that I ran my first marathon. Nine months later, I qualified for Boston in my hometown of Buffalo, NY and less than a year after that I ran Boston. But, just as with any challenge, this isn’t the end so stay tuned for my next adventure!
“I see life as a process of continual growth; of learning, of loving, of trials and of sometimes failing. I believe it is in those moments that our character develops and we find who we are in Christ. “
