Sole Mates: With Marriage Came the Miles

By Jason Geroux

To my family, friends, and the fitness community, we are known as the running or power couple. On any given day, we are out there grinding hard. Either logging miles or lifting weights, our passion for fitness has become a lifestyle. All of my trials and tribulations as a runner stem from my other half Meaghan Geroux. Our virtual aliases are @themaineviking and @meg.runs, and #powercouple is often attributed to us. Let me tell you our story from my perspective and how I became a runner. My passion for running only began a few short years ago. I don't think I ever ran a straight mile in my life until I was 30 years old, and I had zero interest or desire to ever pursue running. I thought going to the gym and lifting weights was all I would ever want to do, and although I always supported my wife at the start and finish lines of events, taking her picture was as far as I wanted to take the sport. Little did I know that would all change in the coming years. Let's take it back to 2015.

The Next Step

By Caitlyn Germain

I started running when I was twelve years old. I was trying out for the field hockey team, and when I finished the three mile run without another person in sight, the cross country coach said, "I think you are trying out for the wrong sport," and without much thought, I switched and immediately found success. Running and racing came naturally to me, but the objective was always to win.

Streaking with Panda

By Maurice Lowman

Hi everyone! My name is Maurice, aka the Marathon Panda. I use running and my role in the local running community to help fuel my sobriety and spread the message of positivity, hope, and recovery. My story is one of overcoming many obstacles in life, including drug addiction, homelessness, and incarceration. As a youth, I played organized sports: little league baseball, CYO Basketball, and Pop Warner football; I enormously enjoyed all of these but just never excelled at any of them, so when my grandmother (Nana) used to tell me I would be a runner with my strong legs, I never quite grasped it.

Start Running Anytime

By Greg Legier

How often do we hear: “I couldn’t do that!” “Doesn’t that ruin your knees?” “I don’t have the time!” “Isn’t it boring?” Let me start by saying that I am not young, nor am I old. I am 50. I started running in 2015, and it was not fun, as I recall. Being out of shape, there was a constant, unfounded worry that a heart attack was on the way if I did this “running thing.” There certainly was no joy in it then; however, I stayed the course, running approximately two runs a week on a treadmill and averaging about two to three miles per run. I definitely wasn’t going to run outside where people would see me. No, indeed. But let’s just give it a shot and keep it slow and steady… you never know…

Check Yourself (Before You Wreck Yourself): Exploring the Concept of Balance in Running (Final)

By Ryan Woolley

Recently, I've felt stressed. A role change at work has forced me into overload. As I line up each day, the break shot of my own cognitive game of billiards splits my attention, causing me to feel frantic and hurried. In heightened moments, my eyes widen, I fumble through conversations, and my body language becomes less intentional. And, something else happens that I'm less attuned to… My stomach begins to move into a frenzy of contractions, causing an increase in its production of digestive acid. The sandwich that I inhaled earlier also comes to a standstill as my gut begins to adjust to the signals that it's receiving from my brain. Some of these signals are originating from my facial expressions. That crooked brow that I failed to hide in a team meeting earlier doesn't exist in a vacuum; it's picked up and read internally by my body's second brain - the Enteric Nervous System

Finding Community Through Running

By Scot DeDeo

Running, for me, like many others here, is a lifestyle. It is a major part of my everyday life and is my go to activity for stress relief, building discipline, achieving goals, and finding purpose. The communities I have been a part of have been essential to everything I have done in running from big PRs to big fundraisers. Running has also been my constant during this unprecedented pandemic.

My Secret Weapon

By Melissa Arnold

In December 2009, my family started a new holiday tradition. My two sisters and I, along with our Dad, ran a six mile loop around Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri. My parents lived locally, but my sisters and I were only in town for Christmas. At the time, I wasn't much of a runner, and I had to train for this run, so I didn't "die" during it. My sisters and Dad were all runners, so this wasn't that big of a deal for them (or if it was, they certainly hid it well). Six miles was a big challenge for me; running for that long seemed nearly impossible. That first year, I'm not sure why I agreed to go or how I finished, but I did.

The Courage to Fail. The Commitment to Succeed

By Kyle Robidoux

I remember standing at the start line of the Mount Desert Island (MDI) Marathon in 2011, my first marathon. I tied and retied my shoes, adjusted my hat multiple times, and checked my pink Timex watch to make sure the stopwatch was zeroed out. Most of all, I recall this strong sense of unknown. How would this day play out? Did I train enough? How would I handle the last few climbs?