RAD Journal: What running stories do you tell over and over that get better with time?
This month, we asked our RADrabbit Team, "What running stories do you tell over and over that get better with time?"
Mallory Ruggiero
The running story that I tell over and over again, which gets better every time, is how I got into running in the first place. I only started running 5 years ago. Before that, I was suffering from an autoimmune disease that affects my joints. I was diagnosed at the age of 3 with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. It started in my left knee and then spread to every joint in my body by the time I was 8 years old. I couldn't walk, and I was told I could never run. I spent years unable to walk and had to go through physical therapy. I used a walker and a cane and had PT for most of my life. 10 years ago, I started a new medication and went into remission a few years later. I started running in 2019 very slowly, but I was interested in moving. At first, I thought I'd never run longer than a 5k, then a 10k, but each race, I went out and felt so good I wanted to run longer. In 2021, I ran my first marathon and emailed my doctor about what I had done. He was so proud. I was so proud. I proved I could run, and run long distances, and still remain in remission and be the healthiest I have ever been. Now, at the age of 39, I am about to train for my second marathon. This story gets better each time I tell it because each time, I've run further than I could have ever imagined.
And I don't plan on stopping.
Martha Aarons
During the pandemic, like many runners, I started interacting with the running community online. It was primarily through the Kofuzi Run Club, where people came together in chat accompanying Kofuzi’s live streams, during which we not only obsessed about shoes and other running-related subjects, but a wide array of random topics. It was (and still is) a place for like-minded runners to bond and make one another laugh. One of many friends I’ve made there is a gal from Chicago named Tracey. We were both preparing to run the 2021 Boston Marathon (the odd one in October, postponed from the previous April due to Covid).
We had plans to meet in person even though she was flying in with just enough time to pick up her bib and have some down time to relax. That was the year Boston was a day after Chicago, and for some reason, there were mass outbound flight cancelations in Chicago that weekend, compounded by thousands of Chicago marathoners needing to get home. Tracey had to drive out of state in desperation to find a flight that would get her to Boston in time. She arrived late only to find her hotel reservation had been canceled. With these mishaps, it didn’t look like we would be able to meet in person after all but she did make it to start line, albeit exhausted.
However, at the very bottom of Heartbreak Hill I heard a voice calling my name, and there was Tracey, who grabbed my hand! Unbelievably, she recognized me from the back based on Strava photos and my rabbit singlet. That chance meeting provided a huge boost for summiting Heartbreak Hill, and though we’ve had the pleasure of getting together elsewhere since then, it was a particularly unforgettable time and place to meet in person at last.
Baylee Smith
My siblings and I had organized a Hood to Coast team last year in 2023. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I had two of the night legs, which in my mind was fine because I run in the dark before work. I had lights and thought it would be fine.
It was the first dark leg, my brother had a hilarious start to his leg because we were running late as a team to the exchange so we hurried to my exchange point. I had my lights, and it was 5 miles in the dark, I got the bracelet we had to snap on to each other as we exchanged and I was off.
This road was dustier than I thought it was going to be, but glad I brought a buff for the dirt and clear sunglasses so I could see. I was running, couldn't see anything because cars were driving by, causing all the dust to limit my sight to maybe 5 feet in front of me, then it was just me.... I get paranoid when I hear noises and kept checking behind me, next to me in the forest (also this entire time I had no cell phone service). Suddenly there was a house... This house was the definition of a horror movie house. Had weird tractor supplies, equipment in the front yard, one candle in the window. I was so freaked out. So I hurried past. THEN! I saw something in the ground coming up and it was a dead hawk! I squealed as I almost stepped on it, jumped over that. THEN I saw a snake heading for the hawk. I SPRINTED out of that area, then more cars came by, more dust, and suddenly there were so many branches on the ground I was hopping over.
Finally I reached the exchange. Everyone was saying "DID YOU SEE THAT HOUSE?!"
I just stared at them and said of course I did... Among other things...
