For those who feel “too big” to run….

I honestly think you meet certain people, at certain times, for certain reasons. I still remember the day I met Leah Justice. She was walking her daughter into River City Gymnastics where I was coaching at the time. I took one look at her legs and thought, HELLO RUNNER! Little did I know, Leah would be kicking my butt in boot camp only a week later. After weeks of “oh-no-not-leah” classes at the Bartlett Recreation Center, Katie and I changed our attitudes. Leah was changing us into lean, mean work-out machines and we were LOVING it. We started taking her spin classes, body sculpt classes, and we even traveled to other gyms where she was teaching just to take her classes. It didn’t take long until running was thrown into our conversations. Leah told us all about her training and running schedule and we joking thought, this lady is nuts and probably just talks a big game. We soon found out Leah does in fact talk a big game…. and she backs it up!! She was soon training Katie and me for our first half marathon and she was also turning into our biggest form of motivation.

Leah would force ask us to come run with her; so we did, and we kept doing it even when we were sore, tired and (honestly) just pissed because she was just pushing us to limits we didn’t even know we had. Katie and I would joke around and come up with excuses to get out of the runs, but we never went through with it and I’m so thankful we never gave up. Leah knew our potential even when we didn’t. She was our cheerleader, “coach” and #1 fan.

Well, two years and many races later, Leah is still pushing us. I don’t think Katie and I would be running this marathon in 9 days if we hadn’t met Leah. I’ve been working on this video for a while and after getting a call from Leah yesterday I decided to finally post it. Leah called to tell me how proud she was and that she was running the half marathon in Nashville with her hubby, but that come mile 22 we better be ready for her. She said she always wanted someone to help her push through when she hit “her wall” and she was going to be that person for Katie and me. I was hysterical. Training for a marathon is like nothing I have ever experienced. It’s been more difficult than I ever imagined, and to think that all of these months of training will pay off in nine days fills me with both hope, and pride. Leah said, “I want to be there at mile 22 because the last four miles are going to be very hard. You’re going to want to crawl to the finish line and you’re going to be very emotional and tired, but I’m not going to let you give up. I’ll talk you through it, give you water, and cheer you on to the finish line.”

I hope one day I can be a “Leah” to someone. I made a short video of her “running life” because I think everyone will be very surprised to see that Leah was not “born a runner” nor was she an athlete. She is the perfect motivation, and example of someone taking control of his or her life and making something VERY beautiful out of it.

This is Leah’s running background….. “My 1st half marathon was in 2007 time 1:48 my 2nd half marathon was in 2008 time 1:43 my 1st marathon was in 2009 Chicago time 3:41 and 8 weeks later ran my 2nd marathon time 3:39 that qualified me for Boston! ran the Germantown half time 1:40 and then ran Muscle Shoals half marathon time 1:39. Went and ran Huntsville marathon in 2010 time 3:33 that qualified me for Boston again! and just ran the Frost Bite half marathon in 1:35. I am also running the Arkansas marathon. I have signed up for Chicago this year as well.”

More from our interview….

*How have your eating habits changed?

Leah- “My eating habits vary from what I am training for. I eat lots of salads, fish, and chicken. I stay away from red meat and I enjoy some bread and dessert. Lifestyle wise, I am in much better shape now in my 30’s then I ever was in high school and college and I feel good.”

*You motivate so many.. how do you stay motivated?

Leah- “Obviously, just trying to maintain a weight and being very passionate about what I do. Also, my accountability runners and spinners that rely on me to be there with them!”

*What is your work-out schedule?

Leah- “Generally I teach spin on Mon at 5:30 and 8:30, Tues we always do 10 to 12 mile run, Wed I teach my 2 spin classes, Thurs we run around 7 to 10 miles Fri. I run between 4 and 7 and teach an 8:30 spin and Sat are always our long runs. We normally do anywhere from 14 to 20 depending on what we r training for. Sun. should be a rest day, but I like to run 8 before church. I must stress how important it is to rest your body, but I don’t listen to myself unfortunately.You should always take off 1 or 2 days from exercising.”