—as told to—
I think of running as a supportive best friend who has helped me through so much and is always there for me. But I also argue with it and sometimes get mad or frustrated and need a break. When it gets really hard, I think about Crew, my son who passed away, looking down on me and being proud. That keeps me going. In the end, as complicated as it can be, my relationship with running has given me a lot. That’s what a best friend does, I suppose. That’s what love is.
I can’t say that running is something that came to me naturally. As a heavier kid, I was terrified of the mile trial at school, where other kids would run while I walked in the back of the pack, hearing, “You’re chubby, you can’t run.” It was a source of anxiety more than anything. But when I moved to New York City after undergrad and was looking for a sport to join with the smallest barrier to entry, running came back up. I decided to give it another shot and signed up for the 2014 New York City Half Marathon.
In all honesty, I didn’t know what I was doing: I didn’t fuel properly or train the way I was probably supposed to, but I loved everything about it. I set small goals to see what I could do. As a bonus, I lost a significant amount of weight in the process. The energy of the race itself was everything—coming down the West Side of Central Park and then running along 7th Avenue, seeing people cheering. I was hooked.
Afterward, I did the 9+1 races to earn a non-complimentary guaranteed entry to the New York City Marathon in 2015, and then again in 2016. I also ran the Chicago Marathon in 2017. Running became a big part of my life.