My Running Story:
I’ve been running for about 20 years, but never long distances and always very slowly! I joined the Wicked Running Club in 2008 because I wanted to run a faster 5K and it changed my life. I got my husband to start running and he also joined the club. We made a ton of new friends and really started running more races and challenging ourselves.
My brother had passed away in 2007 from esophageal cancer and I had promised him to help raise awareness for the disease, and I did so by organizing the Patrick Downey 5K. It ran for 4 years and for 3 of those years I was sponsored by Converse and one year I was featured in Runner’s World magazine as a “Race with Cool Swag” (I gave out Chuck Taylor sneakers, keychains, bags, shirts – in all, about $10,000 worth of merch).
In 2011, after my second half-marathon, I was disappointed in the race and decided to run another the next week with a friend. While I was running, my husband waited for me and had a conversation with other Wicked runners. By the time I finished, he had been convinced that we should do the 2012 Chicago Marathon. So we did! Then we did Burlington, VT in 2013, Chicago again in 2013, I ran Boston in 2014 and he did a local marathon, then we did Baltimore in 2015 and finally NYC in 2017.
NYC was so grueling and such a disappointment that we decided to hang up our marathon shoes for good. So, in true runner style, we are probably going to do another full in 2020 🙂
My favorite running moments include:
- Running through “the corners” in Baltimore (obscure “Wire” reference)
- Running through the zoo in Baltimore!
- Being ambushed for a selfie at Mile 3 in Boston who had not finished the year before due to the bombings and was “just running for fun” (4:10 finish)
- Long runs with hubby Billy when we don’t kill each other and still stay married
- Watching the sunrise on the beach during the Cayman Half Marathon (If you don’t stop to take a picture of that, you are missing the point of running a half marathon in Grand Cayman)
- Every Wednesday morning that my friend shows up at my house at the ass-crack of dawn for a few miles and some chit-chat
- Running at Salem Willows during the sunrise
- Every track workout when I am slowest one there but my awesome coach still treats me the same as he treats another participant who won the Philadelphia marathon and qualified for the Olympics
- Others that can be read about in my blog that I wrote while training for NYC. You can start here: http://www.patness.org/2017/03/
Happy running, fellow Ordinary Marathoners!!! I’m so glad I found this group!! Thank you for the support! #Idontfeelordinary