Running is my happy place. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than out on the trail, feeling the sun on my face, the sweat on my skin, and the aching in my quads. I use it to challenge myself, find some alone time, and as a form of therapy. However, this hasn’t always been the case. I haven’t always been a runner, let alone someone who runs sixty-two miles for fun. In fact, for most of my life, I HATED running. In high school I purposely chose to play the sports with the least amount of running involved. Those people running around miles a day, sometimes twice a day to get ready for the cross country season, absolute lunatics. Why would you punish yourself for fun?
But, about ten years ago, all that changed. I was having a rough time in life, and I though having a goal where I had to show some self discipline would be a good thing for me. On a whim, I signed up for a half marathon, I figured if I was going to run 13.1 miles I had to at least do some kind of training. I pretty much did everything wrong; I ran every training run as fast as I could, was sick after every long run, and got shin splints. It was miserable. Lo and behold, by the time I ran that half in 2:02 (I surprised myself), I had fallen in love with running, or at least was beginning to tolerate it.
Since that first half in 2011, I have run dozens of 5ks, 10ks, and half marathons (with a little more enjoyment and less shin pain). Somewhere in the midst of all this running, life happened. I got married, had a beautiful daughter, and went through a divorce. As time went on, I continued running-trying to get faster and run farther. I’ve ran several marathons, which at one point seemed like a herculean task-starting with Grandma’s in 2018. I remember looking at the training plan and seeing that twenty mile long run and feeling faint. Finishing that first marathon was absolutely life changing. Running 26.2 miles was like climbing Mt. Everest or going a whole year without eating chocolate-but I had done it. Somehow, my former unathletic, undisciplined self morphed into someone committed, determined, and gritty. The feeling I had as they put that medal around my neck was indescribable. Since then, I’ve ran Grandma’s every year and have added in a trail marathon or two.
After logging all those marathon training miles, I thought maybe the running bug would stop biting, but it only got more persistent. In 2020, I ran my first 50k, The Wild Duluth, on the rocky, rooty, and rugged Superior Hiking Trail . The weather was horrible-rain, snow, ice, and mud-in mid October. I twisted both my ankles, bruised my knees, and was so sore afterward that I could barely get out of the car. But, I went back the next day, picked up a couple of ankle braces from Walmart, and ran the Harder than Heck Half on the same trail (in much nicer weather) to earn myself the title of Wild Woman.
In the fall of 2021, I thought the next logical step would be to double that mileage and do the 100k. So, in October I completed the Wild Duluth 100k- which was once again a truly life changing endeavor, those 62 miles were incredibly difficult and immeasurably beautiful. I vowed I would take a break and swore off long distance running for the foreseeable future…and ran my first 100 miler in the fall of 2022, another 100k in 2023, and currently training for my 2nd 100 in 2024. With that, I’ve only fallen more in love with the sport. And like any good infatuation, it’s been all consuming since then.
