Known as "txRUNNERgirl" from the LetsRun.com message boards, I was born and raised in Burleson, Texas, went to Texas Tech and now
ended up in Idaho. My greatest passion is running. Not necessarily my
own running since I'm no longer very fast, but I enjoy sharing the
sport with others through media, coaching and friendships.
I started running at age 14, after I was cut from the soccer team for being out of shape. I used to hate running, but one day I was fed up with being slow and lazy, so I hit the road. My sister encouraged me to train with her over the summer for cross country, which I did starting my sophomore year of high school, and have not looked back. I went from plodding one mile in 11 minutes my freshman year to running sub-12 for 2 miles by my senior year.
After high school, I was a walk-on at Texas Tech. I started my first year okay, but then got injured with a stress fracture at a bad time..when we switched coaches. Long story short, I went through a repetive cycle of coming back too soon after injuries, getting re-injured, and so on for the next couple of years until I was completely miserable and fizzled out of a competive college running career.
However, when one door closes another one opens. All that time being injured, I searched the Internet for all the information I could find on training. At the same time, I started to follow professional running, something I did not care much about when I was obsessed over myself.
My online presence led to many contacts in the running industry. I have since worked with several running-related websites over the past few years, including Flotrack, TheFinalSprint, USATF, LetsRun, PreRaceJitters and of course, RunnerSpace.
I still run when I can, but it's no longer my top priority. I have found a way to balance it with the rest of my life and I'm happy with that.