I’ve have always been an athlete ever since I can remember. Which also means I have been on countless teams. Being on a team means everything to me. It’s not only a family, but it’s also a group of people working together to obtain a common goal.  Some of my closest friends are people I met on some of the sports teams I played on.

Growing up I was on the cross-country, basketball, and surf team. But once I tore my ACL playing basketball during my senior year of high school, my priorities changed.

After that I focused on physical therapy for about a year trying to get back into tiptop shape. Realizing that my team sports days were behind me, hit me pretty hard.

In college, I started to focus my energy on running and ran in a few races every once in a while but nothing super serious. And always in the back of my mind, a part of me was missing the feeling of being on a team.

Now that I am on a team again, it means everything to me.  Even though I have lived in Colorado Springs for about a year, there are still times I feel new out here because there are so many trails I haven’t explored yet.

I know running is not necessarily a team sport. But running together on the Mighty Marmots team is an opportunity for me to learn from some amazing athletes and runners, and have a new support system.  Helping me push myself and over come some weakness I may have. I am also looking forward to exploring more trails with some of my teammates.

Being a part of a team makes me more accountable because I don’t want my lack of training to make myself or my team look bad. Which means I will continue to increase my training as much as I can, so I can represent the Mighty Marmots with pride, knowing that each race I am giving it my all for the team.

So yes I am really excited about running the upcoming Triple Crown Races, but I’m even more excited about being part of a team again!

“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together,” ~African Proverb