25 years running #STWM story – Jessica Kuepfer

Our sixth winner for the STWM 25 Years Running contest is Jessica Kuepfer who ran her first marathon at the Waterfont Marathon trying to qualify for Boston and, even after showing up late, managed to run her goal time.

This is Jessica Kuepfer’s story:

Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon was my first marathon. I had signed up for it on advice of a good friend and suddenly it was October. I was in my hotel room arranging my belongings for an early morning start.

I could have written a book on how to not train for a marathon in the final weeks as I prepared for the race, but I was there on sheer determination. This was my first marathon and I was going to qualify for Boston, no question. I painted my nails blue and yellow and sported a “Boston Strong” bracelet during the run.

I have a history of jumping headlong into things without assessing the reality of the situation. The reality of the situation was I was over trained, I had Achilles tendonitis and I thought carb loading was waiting until the night before and eating Frencf fries.

But the goal was Boston.

The morning of the race, I was late to the start and ran the first 10K too quickly, trying catch up to my pacer. I didn’t have enough gels with me, but the 10K mark turned into 20K, and 30K. I was deep in the pain cave and kept looking at my Boston Strong bracelet to remind myself of the pace that I had promised myself. I kept pushing forward.

The final 500 metres of the race felt longer than the first 5K, but I triumphantly finished with a qualifying time for Boston.

I run marathons because training for them keeps me too busy to realize the absurdity of some of my goals. I just keep showing up, putting in the work and, somehow, it all works out. I am looking forward to racing Scotiabank again this year and have another obscene time goal set for myself, but I’ll be too busy training to notice.