Help Brianna raise money

Becoming a Runner: the Wednesday night run reflection nobody asked for. 

My officemate has a tendency to tell our coworkers, “oh yeah, Bri’s a runner,” quite often. For the past two years, I’ve mostly deflected the conversation from there as my internal voice laughs at the idea of me being labeled a runner. Yet, at 31 years old, in 10 days, I’ll be running 31 miles  over the course of two races: an 8K and full marathon. How did I get here?

17 year-old me would have never chosen to run. I proudly associated myself with the “back of the pack” athletes that had joined indoor track “for the off season.” I told myself my coach never expected much from me anyways and avoided actually racing. 

Fast forward a a few years and I found coaching through SRPS. I told the kids (and myself) I still wasn’t a runner, yet, I would run by their sides as their mentor. I told myself coaching the kids was distracting me from my hatred of running - that this was why I was enjoying my miles. 

And now fast forward to this past training season, where I still found myself disbelieving that anyone would label me a runner. This Philadelphia Marathon weekend isn’t my first time racing and it’s also not my first training season, yet I STILL couldn’t call myself a runner. I decided to fundraise this time for cancer research, a cause that has hit closer to home than ever in the last few years, and set my initial goal for $100. “I’m not a runner,” I told myself, “nobody’s going to donate to support me.”

And then a great friend hit me with my first donation: 50% of my goal. I was shocked. And soon after, more donations followed. I couldn’t believe as more and more people donated, surpassing my goal twice. 

Tonight, I was struck by two more huge donations. As I set out on my run, I was riding the high of having incredibly supportive friends, the sun was setting over the Schukyll, and I was breezing through what felt like an impossibly easy four miles when it hit me: I am a runner. I’m a runner because my friends believe in me. I’m a runner because I’ve lived the past four months around a training schedule. I’m a runner because I’ve woken up earlier than ever before to “get my miles in” and I’ve said no to social plans for the same reason. I’m a runner because I can leave my house with nothing but my keys in hand and head out on “naked” miles. Im a runner because I look forward to exploring new trails while in new places. I’m a runner because I enjoy running. 

So, I’ve become a runner. And today, I’m taking this confidence in myself and asking my friends and family to rally behind me and I reset my goal for the third time. If I can become a runner, if I can set a goal of a sub-4 marathon and work my ass off for it, then we can raise more money for cancer research. So let’s do it.