It all began because of COVID. And not because I was trying to find a new hobby, but because I needed to get my kids out of the house when things began to open again.
My son, Riley and I looked at the MVAA website, but the only activity with availability was football and being only five months into the pandemic, I wasn’t comfortable with that, so we looked to see if there was anything in the Recreator.
“Hey, Ry,” I said to him. “What do you think about track?”
It was a six-week Intro to Track program in Urbana and he loved it. By the end of the program he asked when he’d run his first race. I eventually learned that Middletown had its own youth track and cross-country team, the Knight Striders, so I signed him up that spring. He loved going to races and running the sprints and long jump and my husband and I loved cheering him on. When some of the other parents would ask if I ran too, I laughed and told them that no, I didn’t run.
At least not yet. A couple of years later I became friends with one of Riley’s coaches, and then I slowly began to run, too.
I started with the Beachbody program, “30 Day Breakaway” and I absolutely hated it. I couldn’t understand why anyone in their right mind would like this sport! I would text Riley’s coach, Jenny and tell her how awful it was and why did she like doing this?! I wanted to quit so many times, but I stuck with it although I decided there was no way I could run the 5K at the end of the program. Then one day the workout was to run for 20 minutes straight without stopping. There were several times that day I wanted to quit, but I made it the full 20 minutes. I felt on top of the world and decided to run a 5K in Aberdeen with Jenny and her daughter.
Race day came and 28:36 minutes later, I crossed the finish line out of breath wondering how people could run longer distances, but was so proud of myself I decided to look into another race. The running bug had officially bit me. Three weeks later Jenny and I headed to Waldorf to run the 5K at the St. Charles Running Festival. It was a hot day, but I ended up finishing in 26:33, taking almost 45 seconds off of my pace.
I continued running and doing 5Ks and was so proud of the fact I was enjoying running. One day Jenny asked if I wanted to run the relay at the Frederick Half. She told me I could run the second leg since it was shorter. I told her I never ran 5.5 miles before, but I would do my best.
Not wanting to disappoint her, I started running longer distances so 5.5 miles seemed easy. Then one January day, Heather Wilhelm asked me if I wanted to join her at a breakfast run with the Steeplechasers. I told her I had never run nine miles before, but she assured me I could do it. We took it slowly, but we made it back to the host’s house with my Strava telling me I ran my longest distance yet. I then began to join Heather at the half marathon training runs and eventually joined the Steeps myself. As we got closer to the half, I realized I wanted to run one myself, so I signed up for the Maryland Half in Maple Lawn in June. I recruited Jenny and Sam Williams to run with me with a goal of sub two hours, but hoping to be closer to 1:55:00. It ended up being extremely hot, but we crossed the finish line at 1:55:24 and then I almost collapsed. Jenny, Sam, and my husband all grabbed me and brought me to the shade to sit down, eat some chips, and rehydrate myself.
Later that year I decided I needed redemption and signed up for the NCR Half in Sparks. I trained hard and Sam ran with me, pacing me and I finished in 1:46:51. Around this point I decided I wanted to be more serious with my running and soon after began training with Monocacy Elite Distance.
The 2024 season brought me several PRs. I finished the Shamrock 5K in 21:58, the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in 1:16:35, and the Frederick Half – my goal race – in 1:43:47. The next race on my schedule was the Ocean City Marathon and I felt like I could do anything.
But then I became injured.
I hurt my knee and spent 10 weeks in PT. As each day crept closer to when marathon training would start, I saw my goals vanishing. Once I was cleared, running was tough. I wasn’t at all heat acclimated and even a short run required several stops to catch my breath, but I pushed on and eventually got to where I wanted.
Race day ended up being perfect weather-wise, and I crossed the finish, arms up, with a time of 3:41:18, a Boston qualifying time with a little over a three-minute buffer. After talking with my coach, Brett, I ran the Salisbury Marathon five months later and finished in 3:33:03 – a BQ of almost 12 minutes. That race ended up bringing me a 9th place female finish, a 2nd place masters finish, and a 1st place age group win along with qualifying times for Boston, Chicago, and NYC.
Now, when someone tells me that they don’t run, I tell them three years ago I said the same thing, but a lot can change quickly, and I am so proud of where my running journey has brought me.
