Hi all! So thought I'd start it off -- Bri thanks for doing an awesome job with all of this technical stuff!! Figured I'd just do a quick bio....I ran with Brian at St. Lawrence -- where I think both of us found out how cool it was to be at a school with so much pride, and at the same time pretty much cemented our love for running. Although Brian didn't find his love for distance running until quite a bit later in life (he thought the 1000m in the multi's was far). I ran cross country after developing a love for the masochistic sport in high school, and then was cajoled into running indoor and outdoor track by the rest of my teammates (and to be honest, there wasn't that much else going on in canton, NY) so I followed suit. While I have to say indoor track in northern New York state could be used as punishment in some venues, SLU running and team spirit and learning to push yourself to the physical limits is something I'll take with me for the rest of my life.
Which brings me to today...5 years out of college, living in Boston, and was still going strong...completed my first half-marathon last year and some epic endurance 100 and 200 mile relays (relays being the key word, 6 and 12-member teams) in the hills of New Hampshire and Vermont. So here I thought I had a pretty good handle on the competitive, yet recreational running of the post-collegiate arena. But then last December I caught the dreaded Plantar Fascitis in my right foot, and I haven't been able to get the best of it since! Like any dumb runner, I tried rest for about 2 weeks and saw no results, so I quit that method and just went back to running right through it. That has continued throughout 2010, but a few weeks ago after several battles between my mind and body about running, I thought I'd take an actual break, do some cross training, and see if I can't kick this thing for good!! So I'm currently rocking out with some ellipticalling, some lap swimming at the local Y and dabbling in soccer games once a week.
But hope to be back to running by December, and ready to roll for any/all races in 2011!! I did not have the pleasure of knowing Dr. Petit's amazing family, but I think like many others, just reading about them is inspiring enough to put my life aside for a second and not just think about others but actually act on those well-intentioned thoughts. And while I realize they are completely different individuals, Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" has always reminded me of Gandhi's quote "Be the change". Same idea...set to music! I'm honored to be on the PFF running team and can't wait to see what we can do! Oh, and if anyone has any tips re: this annoying condition, I am all ears!! Happy training!
Megan Reeve
