Our 2021 April Runner Spotlight is on Jody Reed. Jody started running in 1983 as it was the “necessary evil 3rd leg of triathlons.” In recent years, she competes in around 24-30 events annually. Before breaking her hip, it was mostly marathons and half-marathons, but now it is more often in 10ks and half-marathons. Jody has a few highlights during her running career. They include completing the fifty states challenge, running 26 marathons in 12 months, and walking her first steps after she broke her hip and then finishing her fifty states challenge again! Jody runs with her dog, Sydney, in our events. She enjoys our events because they are easy to run (from the signup process, small crowds, locations, and logistics)! She enjoys our flexibility with our events as she has recovered from her injuries and surgeries to return to racing again.
Running is a stress reliever and social outlet for Jody. She’s coming up on 40 years of running, and outside of injuries, she cannot remember what is is like to not run. Jody remembers a time when she first graduated law school and was working at a large law firm. “We had been working non-stop on a project and I had not been running for more than a couple of days. Apparently, I was getting a little cranky as noted by the senior partner who came into my office and asked me if I had my running clothes at work. Upon my reply that in fact I did have my running clothes at work, I was told to go run.”
A benefit of the quarantine timeframe is that it has allowed her the ability to heal between procedures without the pressure of traveling to races. But, as with many of our runners, she looks forward to not having to wear the masks anymore and traveling around the USA running races!