I used to hate running. When I was growing up I played softball and soccer, but only pursued softball in college because less running was involved. Running was always a punishment to me and I only did it when I had to. Last year, I was about to turn 30 and I had felt like I had completely lost myself. I work in a college athletic department and I am married to a personal trainer, yet I was in the worst shape of my life after having two kids. I decided that I needed to do something about it. I thought the perfect opportunity would be to workout the first 30 days after I turned 30 as a kick start to figuring out how to better my health. I got about three weeks into my goal and decided that I wanted to see how far I could run. I ran across our campus and back (we live in a house on a college campus) and then immediately got in my car to see how far it was. I almost cried… I had ran a mile without stopping. One of my student-athletes asked me to do the Bronx Zoo 5k with her at the end of April, so I began training for that. After that I signed up for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia 1/2 Marathon in September and I am now training for the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon in June and ready to register for Steamtown (Scranton, PA) in October!
WM: What got you started running?
MA: In July 2009, my family lost my beautiful 21 year old cousin Kelly to Leukemia. My family has become very involved with Team In Training and last summer my aunt sent out a challenge to my family to run the Philly
RnR 1/2 and raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by joining with TNT. I have made countless friends through my connections with TNT and my friend and fellow Ambassador, Amy, became the initial push for me to train for a full marathon. Side by side, she and I will take on our very first marathon and I’m so excited to continue my marathon journey with her after that!
WM: What are your running goals?
MA: I started running to get fit. I continued my running to raise awareness and fund-raise for LLS. Running is now a way of life for me, so my running goals is to just do the best I can. I know that I will probably never be “fast,” but I do know that I can run far. My long term goals is to simply keep running, and never give up.
WM: What is your fondest running moment?
MA: I haven’t had my fondest full marathon moment yet, but my fondest moment thus far was when I crossed the finish line at my very first half marathon. I threw my arms up to my sides and felt like I was flying over the finish line. Immediately after that, my hands covered my mouth as I gasped for breath, not because I was so tired, but because I was so incredibly proud of myself and realized that all of my hard work paid off, that every time I had to
will myself out the door to run during the week was worth it. The only other time I have felt that way was right after I had given birth to each of my girls, while a totally different feeling of falling in love, it was the same as in that in the moment that when it was all over I was able to look at what I just did with a sense of awe.
WM: Is there anything else you’d like us to know?
MA: I have a very short past when you look at my running history, but my hope is that I have a very long running future. Working in college athletics full time, and being the mom to two little girls (4&2) creates a hectic life, but running has become a passion for me. It is my chance to do something for myself, and to focus on whatever it is that I choose to focus on when I am out for a run. This past year I have learned more about myself than maybe ever before. I am beginning to see a drive and a desire in myself to find new ways to incorporate this new passion into the other areas of my life.
Meet the Ambassador: Mandy is running her second season with Team In Training and about to sign up for her third. “As much as running is an individual sport, I’ve learned that it’s groups of people that rally around each other that really make it worth it.”
I know what Team in Training (TNT) means!! I am on my fourth year with them and you do meet great friends and stay motivated to run. I had never run before TNT. I hope you have a long running career too!
I, too, used to hate running. Growing up, I was never able to run. My whole body would ache every single time I do a fast sprint or a jog. A whole block is all that I could ever do. Everything hurts. From heels to shins, to chest, and even teeth. There was a point in my life that I thought I may have had asthma and wanted to ask my doctor because of it. Up until I met a 62 years old man at the LA Marathon in March 2012. We talked a whole lot about his passion for running and we exchange ideas about running. I even told him about my story. Before we parted, he paused and look to me in the eyes and said: “Nathan, may be you think you can’t run because you haven’t forced yourself to run yet.” Haven’t forced myself to run yet huh? A week later, my friend invited me to do a 5K Chocolate run in San Diego. Haven’t forced myself to run yet? I’ll show you. That was what going on in my mind. I finished my very first 5K in 39 minutes. Oh man, it was terrible but boy did I get high dashing toward the finish line. The week after that, I started my training. It began with a circle around the block, ran 2 minutes, walk 1 minute. Then it went to 2 circles around the block, then a 5K around the block. Of course, there were many moments when I had to stop because of shortness of breath, and there were moments that I had to cry out loud because it hurts and I can’t breath. Lucky for me no one was around because it was very early in the morning. 4 weeks into training I started my first 10K at Hollywood, CA. 1 week after that I finished another 10K in Seal Beach, CA. 1 week after that I finished my first Half Marathon at the Safari Park in San Diego. 2 weeks after that, another Half Marathon in Pasadena. And another 2 weeks after that, I had just done my 3rd Half Marathon at the San Diego Rock ‘n Roll on June 3, 2012. I was running with Team In Training (TNT) to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to beat cancer. It makes me realize that we should not let anybody tells us that we can’t do anything, not even ourselves. Our body is made for running, we just haven’t pushed ourselves hard enough yet. Happy running!
Nathan