10 Years a Runner

birthday candles

Today marks my tenth runniversary. Things are a lot different than that first day, when I struggled through a mile at a high school track. Never in a million years did I imagine then that I would accomplish everything I have. The idea of a marathon was only a flicker–something other people, “real” runners did. And an ultramarathon was still an unknown, as I had never heard of one. Read More

Running at the Back of the Pack

Yesterday, I happened upon a Facebook post made by the folks at Runner’s World Magazine:

 

I was curious, so I followed the link to the blog post they were talking about, written by Heather Gannoe at her blog:  http://relentlessforwardcommotion.com/2014/06/the-reality-of-the-back-of-the-pack-heartbreak-hill-half-marathon/.

I read the post with a lot of interest because I am a slow runner. I have a first place age group award for a 2-mile race and a second place age group award for a 5k, both of which had a very small field. But those two races are exceptions for me; I am consistently 30% away from the back, no matter what the distance. Judging from the number of comments on both the FB post and the blog post, Heather’s experience struck a nerve. It certainly did for me. Read More