About Me

Hi and thanks for stopping by my little piece of the blogosphere! My name is Kristen.  That's me on the left in the picture below with my family...my husband and I are basking in the post-marathon glow.  And, no, I'm clearly not one of those runners who wears makeup for races...although maybe I should start!  ;)  I’m in my late 30’s (okay, turning 40 in just over a month) and I live in Portland, Oregon.  I am married to my best friend, John, and we have three wonderful kids – one son and two daughters.  My son is 12 years-old and our girls are 3.5 and 2 years-old.  We also have a lovable, furry chocolate lab named Ivy.  

Portland Marathon 2011

Ivy

Although born in the suburbs of Chicago (go Cubs!), I grew up in Oregon with an older sister and a younger brother.  We have always been a very active and outdoorsy family.  I learned to ski when I was barely 2 years-old and, shortly thereafter, learned to fly-fish, too.  We grew up skiing in the winters and white-water rafting in the summers. 

As a child, I was incredibly small.  In fact, I was SO tiny that my parents had my sister and I undergo bone growth tests that showed we were both 2.5 years behind our respective age groups.  I was literally below the zero percentile in every growth chart and a full head (or more) shorter than all my friends.  If you have kids, you might like this comparison -- I weighed 32 pounds in the 1st grade.  For anyone that thinks I may be exaggerating about my small stature, check out this pic that someone posted on Facebook.  My friend TAGGED me in it...even though you can't actually SEE me!  I'm the one who is hidden by the candles.

Yes, there is someone behind those candles!

With my size, what else could I do but become a gymnast?!  I spent countless hours after school and entire weekends in the gym when I was in grade school and junior high.  By the time I reached high school, however, I knew I wasn't the next Mary Lou Retton and the time commitment to continue as a gymnast was just too much.

I tried a few sports in high school – freshman volleyball (ha!), cheerleading (am I allowed to call that a sport??) and track & field.  I never really considered myself a runner, though, as the only events I ran were the low and high hurdles.  It seemed the ability to jump high was the only thing that helped me in moving from gymnastics to track.

As much as I loved growing up in Oregon, I viewed college as a way to experience another part of the country so I packed some bags, said goodbye to my family at the airport and bravely boarded a plane to attend Duke University, a mere 3,000 miles from home.  I vaguely remember running occasionally in college as a way to stay in-shape but my runs were few and far between.

After college, I moved back to Portland, Oregon, and began working at a start-up company.  A co-worker mentioned she was going to run the 1996 Portland marathon that fall so I decided to sign up with her.  Doesn't everyone choose a marathon as their first ever race?  Two weeks into the training, she had a change of heart and I was left training by myself.  I had no idea what I was doing but loved running the marathon, never hit the wall and finished somewhere around 4:20 to 4:30.  During the next few years, I continued to run solely as a form of exercise but never consistently or seriously.

After having a little boy in the spring of 2000 and beginning business school classes back at Duke that same fall, I began to really enjoy running in and of itself.  It was no longer exercise but a way for me to connect with my body physically and mentally.  A friend wanted to run her first marathon so we signed up together to run the Marine Corps Marathon in the fall of 2001.  I trained with her and was planning to run 10 minute miles, thinking I would end up running about a 4:20 marathon.  No one was more surprised than I was when I crossed the line in 3:48!

MCM 2001 finish

After the MCM, I finished grad school, went back to work full-time and eventually had my two girls.  I continued to run whenever possible, completing 4 more marathons, a number of half-marathons and a handful of shorter races.  With my busy life, however, I have never really dedicated myself to trying to reach my running potential.

All that is about to change!  This summer is the first time I've really started reading and following blogs and I have been so inspired by what other (mostly women) runners out there are doing to achieve their dreams.  So I have decided to dream big as well.  I now have a running coach and am confident and excited to see what the future holds.  

I don't have any big goals to share yet as Coach Rick and I are just getting to know one another and I'm still in base-building phase following my foot injury.  But I'll be sure to share my goals as soon as they are set...they definitely include at least a sub-3:25 marathon (current PR is 3:35:25) but hopefully much more than that.  I can't wait!

What does your running mean to you?  Do you have any big running-related goals you would like to achieve?  

- Kristen