I often get asked how I got started running, so I thought I’d share my story.
Technically, my running journey began in the late ’80s at Benton Jr./Sr. High School. Every spring, my best friend Jill would decide to run the 5K that was part of our annual field day. Each year we confidently declared that we were going to train for it… and each year, that never happened. We would line up anyway and spend most of the race jogging just ahead of the truck that followed behind to pick up the stragglers.
We always finished—but we paid for it. For the better part of a week afterward, we’d walk around sore and wondering why we had done that to ourselves. Back then, running was something you survived, not something you loved.
Fast forward to the spring of 2002. I had been doing Weight Watchers for nearly nine months but couldn’t lose the last five pounds to reach my goal. After yet another frustrating weigh-in, I went home determined to try something different. I decided to start running.
The path near my house was marked in tenths of a mile, so I ran one-tenth of a mile… and then walked until I could breathe again. I repeated that over and over. Slowly, I built up the distance until I could run the full 1.5-mile loop without walking. Then I kept going. Before long, I was regularly running as much as ten miles at a time.
Eventually, injury and surgery sidelined me, and I stepped away from running for a few years.
In 2011, as I faced the reality of an empty nest, I realized I needed something that was just mine. I returned to running and signed up for a 5K on January 1, 2012—my first official race. For a while, I ran mostly on my own. Then in September of 2012, I joined a local training program.
That decision changed my life.
I found a community of supportive, motivating people who challenged me and helped me believe I was capable of more than I ever imagined. In 2014, I earned my RRCA coaching certification, and for nearly 12 years now, I’ve had the privilege of coaching the very training program that once shaped me.
Since joining that group, I’ve run over 200 races, including nine marathons. I’ve run through different seasons of life—through injuries, setbacks, menopause, celebrations, disappointments, and now as a grandmother (Ree). Running has grown with me. It has met me in every chapter.
What started as an attempt to lose five stubborn pounds became so much more. Running gave me confidence when I needed it, community when I was searching for connection, and purpose when I wasn’t sure what came next.
Running hasn’t just changed my life—it’s helped me build a life I’m proud to model for my children and grandchildren.
And the best part? I’m still not done.
Coach Kareen 