Dear running,
We met each other young.
I was just a girl who loved to run and be active.
It was fun, and I was good at it.
It was something my sister and I could do together.
We spent so many days at track meets.
And people were starting to know our names.
You took two twin girls and gave them a bit of magic.
Those days of running when I was young turned into hours spent at my high school track.
Day after day I ran and ran.
Whatever Coach asked us to do, we did together.
You made me feel confident and gave me something to be proud of, in a world where everyone was trying to find themselves.
You brought me to new heights, and allowed me to realize that I could do anything I believed possible.
I know when I was 17, I took you for granted.
I didn’t care about you as much and I forgot about why I fell in love with you in the first place.
I’m forever sorry.
But I know you forgave me.
It was a hard journey back to where we left off, but we got there.
You taught me that with determination and persistence, dreams can come true.
You took me to College.
You helped me meet some of my best friends and took me to so many new places.
We didn’t get the results that we wanted right away.
In fact, it took until my last year.
I finally let go of everything that was holding me back and just focused on you.
And with that, you allowed me to fully believe in myself again.
We didn’t hold anything back.
We stood on that starting line together, took a deep breath in, and just ran.
I did so much that year.
And it’s all thanks to you.
You gave me something for not only me to be proud, but my family.
I was always a good kid, never got in trouble, and had good grades.
But you gave me that one thing that put me over the edge.
My grandma went to as many races as she could, my grandpa bragged to everyone about his granddaughters, and my parents were my number one fans.
There were definitely times where I wasn’t sure if I was doing life right.
If I was making the right choices and making my family proud.
But because of you, I knew that I always was.
Life after college was weird.
My structure was gone.
No one was telling me that I had to run anymore.
They don’t tell you after your career ends how hard it is.
We ran together here and there but never really knew why.
It wasn’t until the Boston Marathon bombings of 2013, that we finally realized what we were running for.
Something bigger than ourselves.
We laced up my shoes every day for six months training for that marathon.
We had set a goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon, and we missed it by just a few minutes.
That’s okay though.
We know that we’ll do it one day.
Along the way of training for the marathon, the coolest thing happened.
I started coaching.
We could use our knowledge of running to help others.
I joined my sister for what was going to be the most rewarding thing in my entire life as we helped coach the cross country team.
She introduced me to the head coach, who just two years later, would become my husband.
In 2015 my dad joined us and became the head coach of the track team.
You helped me start my family and bring me even closer than I already was to the family I had.
You helped me in a time where I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
I was lost, scared, and thought that I had lost everything.
But you led the way.
Because of you, my life is the way that it is.
I am strong.
Passionate.
Confident.
Brave.
Because of you, I know how to work towards what I want in life.
You were there for me when I was lost.
You were the one thing that I could always rely on.
You never let me down, and taught me so many life lessons.
When I fell, you were right there to pick me back up.
And you’re still here.
After sixteen years, you’re still here.
We run and we run.
As far as we want to.
You’re always right there and you always will be.
And I hope that I can make you proud.
Beyond 20 Something 