I was never particularly good at sports when I was in school. I always had the desire to be, but I never quite got there. In fact, running was probably one of my least favorite activities. After completing university I move to England. I signed up for a morning bootcamp class, which I loved, but every 4 weeks we did a mile for time. These were hands down the worst days for me. I could complete the run and was improving, but there was no joy there. Then I started having some mild pain – shin splints! I needed to take a break from running to help heal and the most peculiar thing happened – I missed running! After my forced break I came back with a new found appreciation for what my body could do, and so started my love of running.
I was a casual runner for years, it wasn’t until I was living in New Zealand in early 2011 that I decided that I wanted to challenge myself. I found a half marathon happening at the end of August, and signed up. I started out running on a treadmill, working myself up to being able to run 5k. My trainer at the gym told me that running on a treadmill and running outside were very different and tried to advise me against purely treadmill running, but I wasn’t confident in my ability. I signed myself up for a number of running events leading up to the half, checked out every book about running that I could find at the local library and went about making a training plan. Looking back the plan was super basic, but it got me across the finish line (limping with an injury, but I finished!). From then on running held a place in my heart.
I would love to say that my running just got better from there, but that’s no always how life works. Between more moves around the world, changing jobs, and changing priorities, my commitment to running ebbed and flowed. In 2018 I worked with a coach to train for my first full marathon. Having a coach opened my eyes up to how little I knew about the science of training. This led me to pursue my personal training certification through American Council on Exercise, and then my run coach certification through United Endurance Sports Coaching Academy in 2019.
I have never been a fast runner, and thus I felt that a lot of running groups were intimidating. I aim to create a community that includes all runners, with no pace expectations. I have gotten so much from running, I want to help others discover who they are and what they’re capable of through learning to run.
