My life changed four years ago……my oldest son was getting ready to leave to the Air Force and I went for a run with him and sadly I could not even make it half way around a city block. I was embarrassed, I always tried to lead by example, I watch my weight, I do not smoke, do not drink, eat healthy and am very active, just was not able to run around a block and he did not let me live it down….lol. So that was the start of my running journey, I signed up for my first 5k and was instantly hooked. I have never looked back and only wish that I would have stumbled upon my love for running long ago. In the past 3 ½ years I have 2 full marathons, almost a dozen ½ marathons, with countless 10 miler, 10ks and 5ks on the books. I am in the middle of training for my 3rd full marathon and this one I am doing in honor of my son, I will be running the Air Force Marathon on September 17th and my son will be running the ½ marathon. I love the long runs, I can run for hours and never get tired of the beauty of running. I love the stress release, the bonding with friends, and the me time, it’s my clarity in life.
Running has changed my life in every aspect. I truly believe that God put the love for running in my heart when he knew I needed it. Both of my sons are grown and are finding their passion in life and I so badly needed something for myself. I lost my sister to suicide 4 years ago and when I thought I would never find closure and peace within myself I was able to do that through running. I healed through every run, I was able to do nothing but think for sometimes hours at a time while I ran, I was able to cry, laugh and just heal all my hurt and guilt. Running was and is my healing time.
Running has brought old friends back into my life and introduced new friends that I have to share all my running moments with. I have the best husband in the world, he is there for almost all my races to cheer me across the finish line. I get to run races with my son when he comes home on leave. I am so thankful that I failed at my first attempt to run, it only made me more determined to succeed at it and in that failure I found one of the best things in life……RUNNING!!!
-Joyce E. Garnet
