#TheSW30: Day 12; That One Time In The Yearbook

Day 12: Your proudest accomplishment.

Sometimes it's really strange for me to talk to people around me who had the normal college experience.  Long hours in the library, house parties on the weekend, taking advantage of all the cool "free" things campus has to offer, etc.  I didn't have that experience.  My weekends never involved jungle juice at a frat party. My Friday nights were spent hosting bar nights the last two years of college. Most of my school work got done while I listened to George Noory and Art Bell talk about aliens, ghosts and other eerie things on Coast to Coast AM while I worked overnight at an AM radio station on Saturday nights.  I'd stay away from campus as long as I possibly could on Sundays.  College just really wasn't my scene.  I could say my proudest accomplishment is my degree, but that's a lie.  I just look at it like it's just something I did.  Sacrificing my college experience did set me up to get a great job working with Keke at 103.5 KISS FM right out of college and I am incredibly proud of that.

But my proudest accomplishment?  Being able to complete three half marathons and two full marathons.  I was far from one of the cool kids in high school so I never imagined that I'd be called for a senior yearbook superlative at our senior banquet.  Our class had 425 kids in it and even though I didn't know many of them they sure did know me.  To my surprise, my name did get called for a superlative - "Track and Field is My Life."  It really was.  In many ways track (and cross country) saved my life. My coaches and teammates became a second family who I still have the deepest respect for.  There are so many memories etched in my mind like they just happened yesterday.  From the good times like team dinner with our families during state meet weekend, winning the district 3200 as a freshman, becoming All-Ohio in the Indoor 4x8 my senior year, sneaking off for Capri Suns during our Monday runs during Cross Country practice to the bad times like my two stress fractures, a calf strain and my epic passing out in the district 3200 my sophomore year...all of them have stuck with me and put a smile on my face.

That all changed in college.  Track and Cross Country weren't fun in college. Freshman year, I severely injured my ankle to the point where our trainer mentioned I might need surgery to remain competitive and I was in pain just walking to class.  Wanting the extra time to dedicate to my job at the radio station, I quit. It just wasn't fun anymore. Running was no longer part of my life.

...until I moved to Boise.  I didn't know anyone and since I hadn't been running in three years, my ankle felt fine so out of sheer boredom I hit the greenbelt to see what I could still do.  I was tragically slow, so I decided to see how far I could run.  Once I was able to do 8 miles I had this stupid idea to sign up for the City of Trees Half Marathon.  After tripping myself at mile one and achieving some awesome battle wounds in the process, I finished and was like "That was fun! Let's do it again!"  The next time I did it, I did it with the incredible group of people that made up the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training and met my friend Conner.  What can I say about Conner?  He's an incredibly compassionate individual who overcame challenges of his own (a brain aneurysm in high school) and really believed in TNT's mission.  His love for just being healthy enough to run was contagious and after sticking by my side during the Famous Potato Half Marathon, he indirectly talked me into running my first full marathon.

I know there's another day in the blog challenge where I'll get to describe my relationship with my training and how it makes me feel, so I'll save it for that day...but I will say we had such a great day on the course that I was crazy enough to want to do it again.  I signed up for and completed my second full marathon seven months later.

To date I've completed 3 half marathons, 2 full marathons and a sprint triathlon.  They are my proudest accomplishments because after I quit track in college, it really looked like I'd never get to run pain free again.  God's smiled on me and let me do that while helping others through fundraising for cancer research with TNT.  I've had some minor setbacks since then, but I'm working on getting totally healthy and being able to complete another endurance race next spring.

What's been your greatest accomplishment?  Was it school? Work? Something else you have passion for?  Tweet me and let me know at @michelleonkiss!