About Me

Hi! I’m Lindsay. I started this blog one day in late August 2010 somewhat out of boredom and curiosity. Essentially, I wanted an outlet to chronicle my training up to the NYC Marathon on 11/7/2010 and have continued keeping it up post-race…I hope you enjoy reading my journey, struggles, joys, and random thoughts on running and life.

Now, who am I?

I grew up in New Jersey (no, not the Jersey Shore, and not off the Garden State Parkway). I played sports when I was younger, but was quite uncoordinated. I tried soccer, cheerleading, tennis, and didn’t really succeed in any of them- mainly because I was deathly afraid of getting hit by a ball!

In 8th grade, my friend decided to join the middle school running team. It met once a week, and we ran for about 2 miles. Nothing intense, but it wasn’t a big wonder why I was slow and not improving between the 2 or 3 meets we had. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it enough to want to join the cross country team in high school. I loved it, and my friends did it too, but running was hard! But I loved being part of a team, and I was one of two freshmen to make the top 7 varsity team. FINALLY- I was good at something!

Through high school running, I had ups and downs. We were one of the top teams in the state of NJ, and we had a great coach. However, a combination of poor diet and too high mileage left me injured a bit. Through displaced/rotated hips, and two femoral stress fractures, I never really got to my potential. By the time senior year rolled around, I didn’t want to run in college at all. I loved running, but I didn’t know if I could be up to par for a college team. So, I applied to schools for academics, blind of their athletics program. By the time spring track came, I started seeing improvements in my times and I wanted to keep competing! I guess it shows I really like things when I get better at them, who doesn’t?

So, I emailed the coach of the college I was planning on attending, Villanova University. She offered me a walk-on spot, which I now recognize as a tremendous opportunity as Villanova has one of the most prestigious college running programs in the Nation. I immediately accepted and firmed up my college decision.

Running at Villanova was one of the coolest/most challenging experiences. It was intense, almost every single day, but I improved and I loved it. There were many frustrating parts about being a walk-on athlete not on scholarship, but I embraced the opportunities I had and ran at a level I never thought I’d personally reach. I loved the team, the girls became some of my closest friends and still are. Running around the area was fantastic, we had access to so many beautiful trails, paths, tracks, roads, etc. that I still miss running on.

Of course, it wasn’t without some setbacks. Junior year, I became anemic (low iron) and still take liquid iron supplements to keep my levels up, since anemia runs in my family. My senior year, I got this bizarre knee pain that wouldn’t be fixed! I got MRIs, cortizone shots, graston therapy, trained completely in the pool and elliptical for weeks- nothing worked. It killed my indoor and outdoor season of my last year, and didn’t go away until I took three whole months off running after graduation! It was a long three months, but MUCH needed after competing on such a rigorous collegiate schedule.

And now, I live in the city and work full-time at a PR agency. I still love running, but love to do it on my own terms. I decided to run the NYC Half Marathon in March 2010, my first EVER road race (surprisingly?), in which my time automatically qualified me for the 2010 NYC Marathon. I completed the Marathon and learned a tremendous amount about myself and my capabilities along the way. Hopefully you will enjoy reading about my journeys!