With the urge to explore somewhere a bit bigger than my home state of Rhode Island, I made a concerted effort to find employment overseas. My first stop after graduating college was Japan, where I was an English teacher. Even though I didn’t speak the language and I didn’t have any co-workers to speak of (it turned out I was the only employee at the “school”), I made friends at the gym or playing a pick-up game of basketball. While serving in Peace Corp, in what was the considered the Siberia of Poland, I found myself staying fit and meeting people in a makeshift gym in the basement of an apartment block. In my town, the only other workout and social activity was lifting shots of vodka (more frequently than I care to admit). After Peace Corp, I entered the corporate world which kept me in Poland a bit longer and then onto Romania, where I became quite passionate about tennis.
I took a job in Chicago where my professional life took a few twists and turns (from corporate America, to culinary school, to starting my own business, to non-profit, and back to what I do now—risk management). During this time, I began competing in triathlons. The cycling and swimming were no problem, but I struggled with running. Considering triathlons ended with the run, my races typically finished on a down note. And, this is when Dennis became a runner.
During the off-season, I joined a running team to become a stronger runner, and finally found my fitness home. The team was great, made life-long friends and I truly enjoyed running. Good race or not, regardless of the pain at the end of a run, I was happy running. Needless to say, that was the end of my triathlon days.
When I moved to the New York area (first stop was Jersey City), my only regret was leaving my running team and all the friendships I made as a part of it. That feeling became stronger when I began running with the another local team—that shall remain nameless. It just wasn’t the right fit. Luckily, a friend told me about the Whippets.
The Saturday morning long runs are still my favorite Whippet workouts. I don’t think I could have possibly seen so much of New York in such a short amount of time, along with all the support, encouragement, and donuts (or carrot cake) someone could ask for. Most importantly, during those 10+ mile mornings, I’ve gotten to know some pretty great teammates. I’ve been a member of the Whippets for a little over a year now and can honestly say that I have become a stronger, faster and happier runner.