I used to fake menstrual cramps in PE class so that I could get out of running. I was a gymnast and a dancer as a kid. I‘d run towards the vault or across a stage if it was choreographed, but that was as far as I’d go. I was at state level in high school, but I wasn’t good enough to pursue it in college. After high school, I stayed somewhat fit by going to the gym and doing the StairMaster or elliptical machine. There was not a lot of satisfaction in it.

Around 2002, I was reading a women‘s fitness magazine and I saw a ‘Run Your First 10k’ article. Running, of all things! One day I thought I’d run 8 minutes on a treadmill; I thought I might die. But then I started to follow a program, repeating weeks when I wanted to. I took my time. It gave me direction again. I remember bragging at work that I‘d run 5k the day before. 5k. It sounded so real. So far!

During this time I went to a party and started chatting with a couple of people I didn‘t know. One guy considered himself a runner and couldn‘t believe I‘d only ever run on a treadmill. He agreed to take a couple of us out the next day. We ran a route around Lake Union in Seattle, about 14k, well above my 10k goal. Again, I thought I might die, but I didn‘t. I felt amazing! We ran by people eating on restaurant patios and I wondered what they must of thought of us running so early in the morning instead of tucking into a heavy breakfast with a Bloody Mary. I felt strong; like I could conquer anything.

I signed up for Victoria Half marathon and began training. A few weeks before, a good friend, Jason Hunter, asked me to join him and his brother John down at the Portland Marathon. Jason, a football and baseball player in high school, was now in a wheelchair after being shot by an intruder at his parents’ house. The bullet took away his ability to walk, but Jason stayed determined to be active and started racing marathons with hand bikes. I said I would go and that maybe I‘d try running it. Jason kind of laughed, but John, a triathlete, encouraged me. I walked into the pre-race expo, filled out the form and wrote a check.

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