Help Sam raise money

I discovered my love of long-distance running after a series of health problems a few years ago led to three stints in the hospital and serious intestinal surgery. It was a dark time. Recovering from surgery, I could barely lift 10 pounds or walk around the block, let alone run. Dependent on family to help with even basic household tasks, I grew resentful. I felt helpless and old, long before I thought I ever would. So I started running. I wanted to feel healthy, strong, and in control of my own body. I wanted to prove myself capable of conquering intense physical challenges. So I signed up to run the Pittsburgh half-marathon in 2020. I trained for several months and began to fall in love with running. The actual race was of course canceled due to COVID, but I ran the 13.1 miles anyway that May, and I never stopped.

What I have learned is that running not only helps me stay healthy and connect with the rhythms of my own body, but also with the world around us. This Winter and Spring, training for months and running hundreds of miles, I have run in a half-dozen different cities from Louisville to Pittsburgh to Boston. I ran while watching the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean on a gorgeous, clear morning—and while it rained and sleeted and even snowed on other days. I have startled and been amazed by all manner of urban wildlife. Deer grazing in a yard on Fifth Avenue early in the morning. A red-tailed hawk guarding its prey on a Garfield sidewalk. Wild turkeys in the middle of the Strip District! Once while running along the Monongahela River, I almost stepped on a rabbit far dumber and slower than nature intended. When you’re out there running, seasonal change, neighborhood dynamics, and the human and non-human lives all around us all become a part of each individual run.