A New Challenge

Six years ago, wanting a goal, needing a challenge and looking for something to do, I signed up to train and participate in a triathlon. I was, by no stretch of the means, an athlete, having only taken up biking and running within the previous year and only the swimming skills that I learned in summer camp swim lessons. I’ll never know what possessed me to decide to do it.

Luckily, I don’t need the answer. For six months I trained- swimming, biking and/or running nearly every day. Working up to levels of endurance that I didn’t know I had inside of myself. I loved the challenge and enjoyed seeing the things I was capable of doing. More than anything, it gave me a new identity. After my first race, it was onto the next and the next and the next. Before I knew it I was a triathlete, a marathoner, a runner, an endurance athlete. It was everything I’d never been before. My teenage years were marked with inactivity, laziness, unhealthy eating and being overweight. For no reason other than a desire for something new, I transformed myself.

Six years, dozens of races and thousands of miles later, it’s become an integral part of my life. In describing myself, I usually say “I’m a runner.” My license plate shows my job and my hobby: RNNR RN. I run marathons “for fun” just because I can and I enjoy the challenge and accomplishment.

Now, on the cusp of my 16th marathon, I have decided to enter a new realm of challenge, adventure, endurance, willpower, craziness: the ultramarathon. In the next six months, I’ll have my eyes (and my feet) on training for the Bel Monte Endurance 50, a 50 mile trail ultramarathon in Charlottesville, Virginia. I’m excited and nervous, motivated and scared, anxious and eager.

Luckily Abby, my partner in crime and crazy adventures, will be beside me (or in front or back on the single track) for all 50 miles!