Okey dokey, here is the story of how I started running. I know, this is a long blah blah blah about me, but you want an inside peak at my life, read on.
I first started running at boarding school in St. Andrew's, Tennessee. The penalty for getting caught smoking cigarettes was to run 3 miles early on Saturday morning. I didn't stick with the smoking, but I went on to enjoy running quite a bit. I signed up for cross country my senior year in high school because it was the only sport that didn't involve moving objects and seeing as how I lack coordination, I thought running was perfect for me! I was chosen as MVP that year; but then out of our team of only 3 girls, I was the only one who showed up to practice consistently!
My dad David Hardwick started running around the same time, and so we explored this new sport together. Running with my Dad has been precious time spent together over the last 12 years. I still share running with my Dad, most significantly I parts of the Leadville Trail 100 in August of 2003. I'll never forget all the emotions of watching him finish that 100 in 29 hours, 20 minutes, at the age of 63.
I did not run cc my freshman year of college, I was struggling with anorexia during that time. However, I asked the coach for the summer workout schedule and I spent the summer before my sophomore year following that schedule to a 't'. That was challenging; most of my summer was spent with my dad in Saudi Arabia where you have to wait until 11p.m. to run when the temperature cools down to a balmy 90 degrees. And, I was still having problems with anorexia.
I showed up to practice (anyone can 'walk on' in most division III teams) that fall ready to run. My first race was fantastic and awful at the same time. I finished second on the team but the pain of running anaerobic scared me so much that I turned around a quit the next day. Five days later I realized that was not only a stupid spur-of-the-moment decision, it was me giving in to fear and self-doubt. I then realized that I couldn't live with that failure. So, I swallowed my pride and asked the team to take me back. I am thankful to this day that they did, as skeptical as my teammates and coach probably felt at the time. Coach Shankman was a patient and inspiring mentor for me over the proceeding four years of competition. And, he was brave enough to talk to me about my anorexia. He was an important factor in my recovery because he encouraged me to gain 15 healthy pounds back to a normal weight. How brave of him, I bet most male college coaches now wouldn't want to go near the subject of eating disorders with their female athletes for fear of liability, lawsuit, etc. Thats too bad, pretending something isn't there doesn't do a damn thing to help the situation!
Accomplishments? The biggest accomplishment for me was developing my competitive drive and loosing some of my shyness. Performance-wise, among my accomplishments during those four years were the following PRs:
800m - 2:32 1500m - 5:04 3000m - 11:05 5000m - 19:32
Recent Accomplishments: Jacksonville Marathon - 3:22:51 Old Dominion 100 mile race 2001 - made it 70 miles, then I got scared of the dark! Collegiate Peaks 50 - 12 hrs. 12 minutes (not so fun)
I met my husgand Sean Hudson during my last (okay, 5th) year of college. We met at the MightyMite Triathlon in Arkansas. Then, we saw each other again at the Elvis Presley International 5k. The clencher for us was a keg party thrown by one of my Track teammates...Sean couldn't resist me after he saw that I could out-drink the big Field event guys in the keg-stand contest! The first week we were together we ran a 5k at Memphis' Shelby Farms. It was amazing to meet such a good man who also shared my passion for running. We were married only a year and a half after that first 5k, and have enjoyed many long, short, good, and bad runs and races together since then.
I love running. It has always been there for me as a way to keep balance in my life, and to keep pushing forward. Its even there when I don't want to deal with it.