Jenn's Story

     Growing up I was always the smart kid, but that was it. My cousins all played sports (football, wrestling, baseball, basketball) and being the only girl, I got really jealous when I would see their medals and trophies. The most I ever did was run the mile in gym class, and the only time I ever tried out for a sport (7th grade volleyball), I didn't even make the first round of cuts. I technically first started running back in 10th grade (in 2003) when I joined Winter Track. I wanted to be a member of a sports team, and since track was the one sport you didn't have to try out for, I joined. Running in the freezing cold really wasn't my cup of tea, but I loved seeing the payoff of my mile time going down. I ran Winter and Spring Track during 10th grade, but I stopped running over the summer. I didn't want to run Cross Country, because I was too afraid to fail. Long distances seemed really challenging to me. I stopped running, and I got really out of shape. The only time I worked out was to walk somewhere or do 30 minutes on the elliptical at the gym in college.

     When I was a Sophomore in college, I co-hosted a morning talk show on our campus radio station. We had the Friday morning show, and one of the stories we covered was the 2008 Long Island Marathon. I mentioned to my host that running a marathon was always on my Bucket List. His immediate response was, "Okay, let's do it then. We'll run the LI Marathon next year." It must have been the fact that I was delirious at 7:45 in the morning, but I agreed to it. We had a year to train for 26.2....and I did absolutely nothing.

     In January of 2009, I decided I would start training. I went to the campus gym, got on a treadmill, and ran a very slow (4.6 mph!) few miles. Since I knew I would be focusing more on distance, I ran as slow as I had to. With it being winter on Long Island, 90% of my runs were on the treadmill or on the indoor track. My host and I ended up changing our minds and (wisely) switching to the half marathon. Finishing that race and getting my medal was one of the proudest moments of my life.

     I've been running ever since, and recently finished my 5th half marathon. Through the years I've struggled with injury, no motivation, weight gain, and an eating disorder. There's something about running that's different than other workouts I've done. Usually when I would work out, I would focus on how many calories I was burning, and that was it. With running, it became more about how far I could push my body, rather than how many calories I could burn off. With running, there is always another challenge waiting. That's why I keep running - there's always another way to improve and do what I never thought I'd be capable of doing.

Jenn
http://runwithrabbits.com/
"It's never too late to be what you might have been."

     I couldn't agree more with Jenn here when she says there is always another challenge waiting. That is the beauty of running, there is no limit. Once we reach our goal we want to improve on it, so we set another, more difficult goal. I love this story also because it shows that with running you can start from zero basically and work your way up. Five half marathons is quit an accomplishment for anyone. Jenn you should be proud of yourself and all you have overcome. Much respect!