Team Ordinary Athlete: Fojaco, Alaina

My Running Story:

Hi everyone! My running story started to take shape in 2006. I just moved back home (Tampa) from the UK. I was struggling with not being as far along in life as I thought I should be so I went for a run.

I started slow. I can remember how excited I was to be able to run one mile non-stop! I set my eyes on being able to go a little further each time I ran. I found that running was an amazing outlet for my stress, worries, and overall really helped my mental health.

Then I ran my first 5K! I was so excited about it! It felt like I took forever. I was hooked. 5K turned to 10k then to goals got a half.

I moved to Montana before I got to do that half and my racing went on hold, but I kept running. A few years later I found myself in Chicago, racing my first half and I was sold! It was amazing! I started to run one a month during the summer. I set my eyes on a full, and raced my first one in Oct 2015. At the end I said I was never going to do that again, and then signed up for my second one the next day.

I have 4 fulls and about 15 half’s under my belt. In the last few years, I have fallen of racing. I am trying to get back to racing more. My goals are set a bit high but I don’t mind that. I want to run a full in under 5 hours, a half in under 2 hours and complete a half Ironman. I am really excited about chipping away at all of these things and finding a group of people run with and support others on their goals! My current PR’s 05:07:42- my 2nd full in nov 2015 02:15:56- March 2019