A few weeks ago, Judy, Rebecca, and I met at the Pettit Center to do a 3-hour training challenge, and to see how many kms we could get on their 443-meter track. After the three hours, we had a brief photo-shoot!
Rebecca is an amazing runner, in my opinion, and I was excited to hear how she’d answer my stock interview questions…
Q: How old are you? How long have you been running?
A: I am 39 years and gulp about to be 40 in June. I am soon to be a MASTER. Gasp. I’ve been running for… gosh, I ran cross country for a year in high school, does that count? Haha, honestly I think I really started running more in 2016, and entered my first race ever in 2017, thanks to my sister.
Q: Why do you run?
A: I’m masochistic, ha ha. I love that it’s a great way to get out in nature, get moving and to challenge yourself with how far you can go both literally and figuratively.
Q: What is the hardest part of running for you?
A: To NOT compare myself to others. I struggle sometimes in reminding myself that running is a personal journey. “They’re” not lying when they say “Comparison is the thief of joy”. I remind myself of this often in all aspects of my life. You are only in competition with yourself, the rest is just an illusion. Unless you’re gunning for a podium spot anyway, which at this point for me is more unexpected and exciting than anything when it happens (think age group people, not overall, ha ha)
Q: Do you do other sports/athletics?
A: Yes! I play sand volleyball twice a week, sometimes more if other teams/friends need a sub, but I am learning during the racing season I need to back off a bit so I don’t jeopardize my training. I also enjoy weightlifting. I hope to help dispel the myth that weightlifters can’t be runners, not that I’m going for Ms. Olympia or anything.
Q: What got you started running?
A: I was training for a fitness test for employment that was super important to me and it actually helped to get me pretty speedy. Then my sister who was always running invited me to run a 10k with her. It was a trail race through Silver Circle. I had never run a race apart from Cross Country my junior year in high school and funny enough, didn’t realize they even existed as an adult. It was my first trail race and RUN ever and took place at Minooka. I learned quick and hard that you needed to pace yourself on hills. I walked quite a few hills and thought I was big time failing, and somehow placed second in my age group. I was HOOKED ever since, so I suppose I have my sister to blame, LOL. Then it just kept escalating from there… I did my first half marathon in 2018, swore i would never do it again and that, my friend, was one of the biggest lies I’ve ever told myself, lol!
Q: Do you find that time of day makes a difference in how well you run? If so, what kind of difference?
A: Kudos to all you folks that love running first thing in the morning. That is not me and I’m feeling personally attacked recently since I have to get my training done during the week before I start work at 8am. It’s awful. I try to plan my runs sometime in the afternoon when the sun shines bright and it’s the hottest time of day– unless it’s summer. Then I’ll go a littler earlier, but who am I kidding? I’m still out there earliest 10-11am. It makes a HUGE difference for me to run during the day or towards late afternoon vs. early morning. Early morning I am not in it to win it and its so easy for me to short my workouts or not go at it as hard because neither my body nor mind are ready for what I’m about to put it through. The women I do run with know the odds of me showing up during severe cold or early morning runs is quite slim to none, lol. I was so excited and actually signed up for a race because it started at 1pm. Do you know how exciting that is?! And its a 50k!! I think all races should have that option, ha ha. 6-7am start time is for the birds and even they aren’t ready for it. Lol. Okay, yeah, Im the minority here, I know it.
Q: Do you do competitive runs, and why?
A: I do participate in competitive runs, or rather organized races. I prefer to think of them as organized races more than anything since I’m primarily putting my training to the test to see if I can best myself and if I can come out on top, even better! I’m not a super social runner, but its really fun to be part of the running community even if it’s just me running “alone” with friends I haven’t met yet. And aid station volunteers are the best. And who doesnt love a great post race snack? I’m quickly learning though what I do and don’t like in a race venue. I enjoy smaller venues that involve trails and nature. You will more than likely never catch me running in a masters marathon. Concrete jungles and loads of people are not my thing and give me stress and anxiety. I run to connect with nature and decompress. Sometimes I surprise myself, too, and actually place in my age group, which is super exciting to see that kind of personal progress and where I fall among other runners.
Q: What was your favorite run you’ve ever done – personal run or competitive race?
A: Gosh, so many to pick from and so many different reasons – the race I did with my sister because she was there and it was so new and exciting; the Ragnar Trail race in Wisconsin because its where I met some of the women I still run with occasionally to this day, which that camaraderie is so new to me; I have a couple friends that we do a vacation race together and come from different states and we’ve done three of those so far; they’re all so great for different reasons and helped me grow as a person, not just as a runner.
Let’s not forget the Ironbull, my first 50k ever. They say “find your tough” and man, they weren’t kidding! The first 25k of disastrous thunderstorms with lightning and continuous downpours with about 3500’ of elevation gain. I didn’t think Id make it through the first loop let alone finish the race, and place in my age group, too!! It was wild, and for once I got to be the “bad” influence when it came to Judy and I – normally she’s the one convincing me to do “crazy” stuff! … like the Smores 24 where we were a two person relay for 24 hours… and spent a few hours of that literally holding down our tent during the second longest thunderstorm ever as it did its best to blow away. Might I add our perseverance still landed us as first in the women’s division??
Nevermind we were the only ones psycho enough to do it, LOL. I feel like this is also answering why I run.
The MEMORIES, personal growth, stories and camaraderie. Everyone needs a Kristen and a Judy.
