Jeannie  aka "Hay Burner"

I was active as a young girl, participating in track, gymnastics, softball and ice skating until I was about 14.  I was never particularly good at any of these sports and once I hit my teens, I quit.  Once the P.E. requirement ended in high school, I did not move my body at all from age 15 to 29.  Then after the birth of my second son, I was 10 pounds heavier than I had ever been and none of my clothes would fit.  I knew I had to either join a gym or buy a whole new wardrobe.  I joined a gym.

The first day at the gym, I felt like a fish out of water.  I didn't know how to work any of the machines and knew nothing about free weights.  So I went over to a treadmill and set it at 4.8 mph (slower than a 12:00/mile pace).  I told myself I would run for 10 minutes.  Those were the longest 10 minutes of my life.  I was breathing SO hard and thought, "I could just turn this thing OFF."  I nearly did.  Looking back on it now, I can see this was a real turning point in my life.  I decided right then and there that I would persevere and become physically fit.  The first month was the hardest.  There were some days I thought I was too busy to get to the gym, but I would make the workout my first priority.  Funny, everything else always got done, too.  I made a few appointments with a personal trainer (Mike Zealand of Lifestyle Fitness Center), and I told him, "I'm going to be one of your great success stories... you just wait and see."

I mostly participated in aerobics and lifting free weights, and just ran occasionally on the treadmill for 2 miles or so.  I would enter the occasional 5K race with my sister Karen B, who is a very talented runner.  I would always crash in the 3rd mile since I wasn't used to running that far, but still managed a pretty decent time. 

Then my husband told me he thought he'd like to have another baby.  It was like, "What?"  We had already decided we would only have two.  I was afraid of losing my fitness.  However, we did have our third child, a girl.  I was surprised what a difference being fit made in pregnancy.  It was so much easier and the c-section recovery this time around was a breeze.  The weight came off so quickly.  It was at this point, around April 2002 that I announced I wanted to focus on running and would run the Columbus Marathon 18 months later in October 2003.

This is when I met Sabrina.  My sister had met her before at several races, and they would chat about everything from raising little ones to working with new runners.  Sabrina was starting up a women's running group in Bedford, and Karen told me about it.  I went for the first time in the summer of 2002.  Sabrina's enthusiasm for the sport was contagious.  She made me feel like I could become really good at it, too.  When I ran 5 miles for the first time, she pushed my daughter in the jogger for the final 2.5 miles (which were mostly uphill!)  I was *so* tired and she said, "We can walk if you need to."  I managed to croak out, "I will NOT walk!" and she said, "Good for you.  With determination like that, you will definitely run that marathon."  She was going to help me come up with a training plan and everything.

The only race we ever did together was the Virginia 10-Miler/4-Miler in September 2002.  The Women in Motion team won the gold medal for female team, and Sabrina was first female in her age group, running a 68:xx, I think.  I won 3rd in my age group in the 4-miler, running a 36:20.  She was so happy.  We had all done so well.

Since Sabrina's accident, Women in Motion have made it our mission to continue Sabrina's dream and to help other women lead active, healthy lives.  I have personally chased down many women that I see running... handing them a flyer about our group.  Whenever anyone asks me, "What do I need to do to join WIM?" I reply, "You just did!"

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