Plugging In (Road to Boston) Part 2

When you find that something is bringing you joy, the natural response is to to give back to it.. embrace it's culture and learn not only more about it but to be open to learn from it.

Running was quickly becoming what I wanted to do more of. So I wanted to give back to it somehow.

The local running club served as that answer for me.

Here I was.. I knew nothing about running, didn't know many runners and was desperately finding myself wanting to be immersed with it... and I am not sure I really knew why?

So I joined the running club when I ran the Frostbite 5k in January 2011, It's their membership run! Registration into the race automatically gives you membership into the club (you can find that report here) and from there I volunteered to help out with various races and a few expos, I was learning a lot and made some new running friends. Group runs were perfect for running and meeting people with like minded goals.

At the end of that year (2011) at the club's Christmas social, I was nominated for Vice President of the Outer Banks Running Club for the 2012 calendar year and I jumped in head first! Part of the deal in accepting that nomination was moving into the Presidents position the following year.

It was a challenging position that demanded a lot of time, but in the end I was happy to serve the club and it's members in that capacity! It was an honor to do so and I feel we made some positive strides for the club and the communities acceptance of it!

During my two year service with the OBRC (1/2012 - 12/2013) I ran two 50k's, four Full Marathons, four Half Marathons and six 5k's!  I also participated in a 200 mile relay race with 5 of my friends under the ultra team category. We ran in legs from Raleigh NC down to the Coast of Atlantic Beach NC. This event was named the Tuna 200 and you can read my blog about it here! We finished in 30 hours or so and came in second place in the division! It was a great experience!

I also attempted a 100k (63 Miles)  race on my birthday that year in 2013. Unfortunately, one month earlier in February, about half way through the Myrtle Beach Marathon I was struck with Plantar Fasciitis. An injury that would eventually pull me out of running for a quarter of the year! I started the 100k knowing full well I was trained and ready, but with the injury, I was unsure that I would get very far... but I at least wanted to start. And I did.

I made it about 30 miles that night and had to throw in the towel.. the plantar became so unbearable that I felt if I went any further, I just would make things so bad I may never be able to run again.... it just wasn't worth it, so I dropped. The next morning I deferred all my races on the calendar to the following year. I was so depressed and irritable,  you would have thought I just quit smoking cigarettes!!

It would be three months before I would participate in another race... and in June 2013, I ran "Run The Dream" Half Marathon. Plantar still kind of there but I got through it.

Three months later I ran the the Rock and Roll Half in Va. Beach and I was happy to get signed up for another 50k at Seashore. It would be my third running!

But as my luck of 2013 would have it... during a training run while I was out of town one morning I felt a pop that stopped me in my tracks. I limped back to the hotel... and for the rest of the day. The diagnoses, a break in the tibia... I'm out for the rest of the year... No Seashore 50k for me and an event that brought 16 Outer Banks runners/club members out and a record temperature sixty degree day for December event! I was sad to miss it!

It wouldn't be until March of 2014 that I would run another race. That race was the Shamrock Full in Va. Beach. My second running of that event.

If there was any sign that running had not only become a huge passion but was beginning to change my life, A series of events with my work and other events led me to open a running store in April of 2014. It was a much needed addition to the community of businesses here on the Outer Banks! I was scared to death (out of my comfort zone) and excited all at the same time! But it was something I really wanted to do! It had always been a dream to have my own business! I was ready to make it a reality!

Including that race in March, I ran four Marathons, two half marathons, one ten mile trail race and a 5k. This was the year of "run for fun" for me... stay healthy and whole.. don't get injured again and just run to finish!

In November I got my revenge on that 100k I DNF'd a year earlier. I ran it and completed in about 13 hours or so! It was the most beautiful night of the month and one of the toughest races I have ever done.  I finished out the year running my fave 50k at Seashore and scored a PR (Personal Record) to end the year on a very positive running note! Read that report here!

Little did I know.. or maybe I did.. but I was setting the momentum for a PR year of racing in the upcoming year of 2015! I was ready to compete again... against myself, of course!


Next Up: "Make Way For The Underdog (Road to Boston) Part 3"