Hot Off the Press!

When I checked my phone this morning I had a text, a missed call, and a voicemail all from my mother (which isn't unusual for her).  When I listened to the voicemail she left me I was too excited to call her back, which lead to another phone call and voicemail later.  The article I was interviewed for was published in the Bergen Record.

I had been reading this series in the Bergen Record called "I Want to Run a 5K."  The articles seemed to be geared towards people who were 40 and older, and they aimed to get people motivated to sign up and complete their first 5K run.  I thought I would just email the author for the fun of it and share my story with him.  It seems as if my generation has been hit hardest by the economic recession, and a lot of recent graduates have had to return home and sit around while they wait for jobs to come.  Another thing I love about running is how good it makes you feel.  Whether you completed a 10 minute run or a 6 mile run, running gives you a sense of accomplishment which is extremely valuable for all of the recent graduates that seem to be down on their luck.  I always get excited when I hear about people who are trying out running or other sports because I fully believe in leading an active lifestyle (which up until recently I didn't do myself, with the exception of playing ultimate frisbee in college).  So I'm not really sure what came over me when I emailed the author of this series but I felt like I should share my story and hopefully inspire others to start leading an active lifestyle as well, especially all of those stay at home grads.

I'm floating! And also have heel strike.  Read the article here

Long story short, the author emailed me back and said he had gotten some responses from younger adults but would like to write about my story, especially since I had recently finished my first 5K, another reason why I thought I could contribute to the series.  We talked over the phone and a photographer came to take my picture while I was "running" around the park near my house (I put running in quotation marks because she just asked me to jog back and forth between two spots, I felt a little awkward which is why it looks like I'm posing.  Side note: at one point she told me to start running and then just stop mid stride.  I felt like a doof and almost fell over).  I didn't want to tell anyone until the actual article was published for fear of my story getting scratched.  I also didn't know how to tell people without sounding like I was showboating.  I'm happy that my story was printed and I hope that people read it and it inspires them to create their own active lifestyle and maybe even sign up for their first 5K.  I also have the article saved under my bookmarks because I particularly like the quote at the top of the article if I do say so myself.  I hope to use it for motivation and as a reminder of all of the people I'd be letting down if I didn't do my runs.  It also seems that I now have a reputation to uphold...

Posted by Ali B at 1:12 AM