The ability to conquer oneself is no doubt the most precious of all things that sports bestows.

When I was younger, I wasn’t really into sports. Sure, I played some town soccer (my sole trophy was for an under-12 tournament!) and I even tried track and field in middle school (100m dash and javelin) but my interests were mainly in music and drama.

It wasn’t until after college that I started getting into running. I wanted to be able to get in shape and not have to spend too much money doing so. And when I met my now-husband back in 2006, he was training for the Cape Cod Marathon, so we would sometimes run together. The fact that I’ve been able to keep this up since 2007 is definitely proof that I was able to conquer any fears or doubts that I may have had. I haven’t gotten any faster or had any grand dreams of running these huge races. But I still get out there every week and I’ve been enjoying it ever since.