My husband. I hated running when I figure skated. Running the mile for time was not my favorite thing. In grad school I met my now husband Matthew. I would run a little bit here and there to get to the gym but it wasn’t until I met Matthew and he signed me up for my first half (Detroit International Half) in 2011 did I really start to run. Watching him train for races and triathlons, he inspired me to do the same. – Ashley B
I got into running at a very young age. I just had a natural interest for it ever since I can remember. I enjoyed racing kids at school and how free it made me feel to run. – Ryan A
I worked out in my home gym for years, and only ran if I was staying somewhere that didn’t have indoor cardio equipment. When I moved to Ohio for work 3.5 years ago it was weeks before my home gym caught up, so I ran regularly, and then discovered MRTT, and races. By the time indoor cardio was an option again I was hooked on running. – Clare M
I realized that my favorite pair of jeans was getting too tight and I knew I needed to lose some weight if I didn’t want to buy new clothes. 12 years, 35 pounds and 29,000 miles later and the rest is history. – Dave P
At a very young age I recognized that I was not very coordinated so any sport that required hand/eye coordination I knew was not for me. At 5 I raced my first road race with no expectations and ended up winning for my age group, quickly figured out it was something I enjoyed and was pretty decent, even running in gym class I loved because I could keep up with the guys. I loved the race day feeling and my parents have always been so supportive, now my husband and kiddos cheer me on time and time again and well 38 years and still loving every mile! – Amy P
I always ran for conditioning for other sports and noticed I was pretty fast. In college, I had to run a mile time trial for the tennis team and I always thought, that would be pretty cool to run a marathon someday. It took me a while after college to get in to running, but 23 marathons later, I am still running. – Jason H
When I was 29, I started to realize that I was losing any physical fitness I once had. I also knew I needed to do something about my poor diet. So in early 2008, I stopped drinking soda and started running. I was content with running simply to get back into shape, until 2009 when my friend talked me into running a race. That stoked my competitiveness. In 2010 I ran both my first half and full marathons, and the rest is history.-Bryan S
I’ve been running since I was 14. A soccer teammate said come run track in the spring. I fell in love with 400 meter repeats. Then my senior year of high school one of my best friends dads saw something in me and said you should run cross country.. he went on to get approval for me to run cross country and play soccer my senior year and I went to state individually my first season. It was all over after that, I was officially in love with that feeling of pain that was tangled within the runners high euphoria of crossing that line and witnessing the strength of my lungs and the power of my feet.- Michelle B
1990-1994, 3rd Battalion/9th Infantry Regiment/Scout-Sniper Platoon. It wasn’t optional – Jon J
I had run cross country in high school to get in shape for other sports. I hated running then and didn’t pick it up again until 2010 when I realized I couldn’t make it a mile without stopping to catch my breath. A total eye opener and all the motivation I needed. – Jake R
It’s a layered answer, but to strip it down to one “easy” answer, I’ll say I started running because it was something I was in control of. – Erin A
