Who is Jess?

That's me in the middle right after I completed my first marathon in June of 2009 in Seattle. If you would have told me a year ago that I would have already completed a marathon, half-marathon, 3 5ks and a 10k by now, I would have said you were crazy!

On my 24th birthday I decided I wanted to become a runner, yes that was just about a year and a half ago. It wasn't because I thought I would love it, oh no, it was more for the body. I wanted a body like those of the awesome runners who grace the covers of Runners World. My running journey started slowly...literally, I was moving like a snail. I would run (what I felt like was running) for about 3 minutes and then need a walk break. The first time I completed an entire mile without walking was a HUGE day for me.

I did my first 5k in July of 2008 right here in Longmont. Thanks to my husband Josh, who of course, can just run like the wind regardless of how long it's been since his last run, I was able to make it in just over 32 minutes without walking once. I crossed the finish line and immediately felt like I may vomit (I didn't). The pancakes they served made me feel much better.

For the next few months I tried to increase my endurance and slowly started to move a little faster all the while gaining confidence in my running abilities. That is when I heard about Team in Training. I knew my mom had participated a few years ago and loved it, so I said I'll just go to the meeting. Well, I went to an informational meeting, watched the video and was signed up to train for my first marathon before I knew it.

Here I am a marathon later and still running! The marathon was no breeze. I battled tendonitis that left me in tears and yelling like a trucker for the last 6 miles of the race. There is no way I would have made it to the finish line to be plastic wrapped with ice had it not been for my awesome mentor Meghan.  But here I am, four months later, doing it again with the hope that I will be injury free and raise even more money to find a cure for blood cancers.

Let's talk who I am other than running. I am the oldest of 6 (Tom-22, Riley-13, Emma-11, Ted and Audrey-11) and though I've lived in Colorado for 13 years now, I'm still a Nebraska Cornhusker fan. I met the love of my life while going to college at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.   We just celebrated our first anniversary on Oct. 11th and we have a 2 year old dog named Lucky Red who has an unbelievable amount of energy.

I think I'll stop there now that I've rambled for some time. Anything else you want to know, just ask.