From Chasing Down My Big Sis To Now

I was born into a family that encouraged sports, although I was NOT particularly good at any of them! I had this lovely sister to chase after.

  Liz aka "Peep" and I goofing off and doing our own hair at Mamaw's house in Westerport MD.

Liz was good at everything. She is fast, athletic, and FEARLESS! I mean 2 weeks ago I watched her jump onto her own head 3 times on the trampoline trying to remember how to do an arabian! It was hilarious! Liz is only 10 months older than I am and I wanted to be just like her! But I wasn't. I was scrawny, extremely clumsy, and well if it "made my legs hurt" I was out. But in 7th grade Liz started track and I was eager to be her teammate the following year.

Racing in my MHS jersey just like my Sis!

                       
Thanks to Peep, I found out that I was pretty good at one sport, and ONLY ONE SPORT. At 30 I am confident she would still beat me in anything 300m and under, but I was lucky to have her pushing me! I had a great D2 team around me at Marlington, and good coaches who encouraged us (at 20 miles a week) to be good athletes with room to improve in college!

Marlington's frist State Qualifying 4x800m team in 2002 (Me, Ashton, Coach Dagendardt, Katie, and Jill).

  
In the fall of 2002 I took my talents to the University of Akron! LOL, just kidding I was probably the least talented person on that team!!! Being a Zip was hard. I had to do long runs, keep up with ladies that were faster than me, and actually fight to be 5-7 on the team. I LOVED being a Zip and while I had many struggles with injuries in college, it shaped me to be able to handle the ups and downs that come with post colligate running.

My frosh year as a baby Zip racing 1500m in the worst yellow uniform ever!

As time passed, I knew that running post colligate was the only thing I really wanted to do. Just kidding, since I was 12 I knew running would always be the only thing I wanted to do! Shortly after college I started working with Matt Woods and he pushed me toward the marathon.

2nd place finish running my first marathon at Austin in 2008. I was pretty excited to get the Olympic Trials 'B' standard running 2:43:44

The Olympic Trials in 2008 came only 2 months after my first marathon. I was pretty banged up going in, but it was an incredible experience.

 2008 Olympic Trials race. I ran 2:53:38 107th place.

      

In 2008 I would later DNF my first, and hopefully last marathon, at mile 11 with a broken foot. But in 2009 I came back fit and ready to go at USA Championships. Despite puking 5 times over the last 4 miles, I would finish 13th in a PR of 2:40:16. A few less enjoyable marathons, and quite a number of life lessons, I FINALLY raced my hometown marathon in 2011.  I wanted to race well at Akron to give back a little to the people who have supported me though the many ups and downs that had transpired over the few years prior. I was blown away by the support, and the memory of that race is something I pray I never forget.   For a full race recap read my blog entry AkRUN Marathon.

Winning Akron in 2:45:56 on a hilly course, and finishing in front of my hometown crowd made me proud.

Since Akron in 2011 I had quite a few downs before finally having some ups.  In 2012 I finished a disappointing 121st at the Olympic Trials, and 3rd at Akron in my only marathon over 3 hours, 3:00:02 (see blog post Akron Marathon 2012 for a recap).  But through those races I learned that people love me just the same winning or losing.  In 2012 I could not break 17:30 for 5k.  I ran no PR's in regular races in 2012.  Finally in November I began working with Cleveland Elite Development, coached by Glenn Andrews, and since I have run PR's for every distance I have raced 2-5 miles.  I know the best is yet to come.  I look forward to continuing to share that journey with you all!


If you have a topic you would like me to blog about send me a message at run913@yahoo.com or post a comment on here!  Good Luck in all of your upcoming races!