Team Ordinary Athlete: Early, Debbie

How I Started Running:

My 61 year old mother was training for the Berlin Marathon in 2004. The day before leaving for Berlin, she fell on her last training run and tore open her knee requiring stitches. She was unable to run and I told her that I would run the Berlin Marathon with her in 2005, which we did. I was not a runner when I made that commitment and swore after the race that I would never run another marathon. In 2009, I finished the Stockholm Marathon, which was then followed by the 2012 Rome Marathon, 2015 Berlin Marathon, 2015 New York Marathon, 2017 Berlin Marathon, 2017 Chicago Marathon and 2019 London Marathon with two more marathons on the schedule for 2019. Never say never.

My Favorite Moments / Biggest Accomplishments:

Every marathon holds special meaning but completing the 2019 London Marathon was my favorite and biggest accomplishment so far. I had suffered through 10 years of London Marathon lottery rejections and through a twist of fate, my stars aligned, and was able to get into the race in 2019. Crossing the finish line was very emotional after 10 years of waiting to get to the starting line.

Future Goals:

Scheduled races include:
Berlin Marathon – September 29. 2019
Marine Corp Marathon – October 28. 2019

Tentative races for 2020 will depend on marathon lotteries, but my hope is to run:
Tokyo – March 1, 2020
London – April 2020
Ordinary Marathon – April/May 2020
Berlin – September 2020