DreamBig 2005 - #1 Missouri

State #1 - Saint Louis, Missouri
Spirit of Saint Louis Marathon
Finishers: 4,431

Starting in middle school, I made some friends who were runners. I had never been big into "going on runs" but it was what my friends did so I wanted to be a part of it too.

I was always pretty quick at shorter distances and was a strong sprinter and could compete in the mile or pacer fitness assessment. But distance running again was never something I enjoyed.

In 7th grade, along with Susie, Ann, Grace and Emily, I joined the Kirkwood Track Club Cross Country Team. We met at Kirkwood Park two to three times a week and ran with Coach Tiggs. We traveled far and wide around Missouri to run on Sundays and none of us were ever very good -- but it was nice to have an after school activity for us to all hang out and goof off.





Once we got to high school, I decided I wanted to do cheerleading (ha) for all of like one clinic and then once I smartly got over that, I decided to join the cross country team with Susie, Caitlin, Ann, and Erin. We had a blast. Again, I was never all that great but the team was a ton of fun. I had so many great girls on the team to look up to and we had amazing coaches in Coach Finnerty, Coach Harrig and Coach Harris.

Everyone except me, now that I think of it, had their short term stints on varsity but I was always a consistent Group 2 runner. We would run mornings in the summer and evenings too. We would run with Mr. Kuttenkuler who would push us out the door for our morning jogs and training sessions. All in all it was the most individual sport with the biggest team atmosphere.

My Team.

I had a love hate relationship with the sport because I still never really enjoyed the activity since I never got all that much better. But I never quit. 

Dad and Ash out at Jefferson Barracks

Junior year of high school, Susie, Ann and I decided to sign up for a half marathon. The distance seemed ridiculous but we were used to long runs so how much worse could it be. I still remember one random warm St. Louis winter day where I just left the house and started running down Manchester towards Ballas from mom's house near North Middle. I ran all the way down Ballas to Dougherty Ferry to the bowling alley way out in Valley Park and then all the way UP Big Bend to Geyer which was the longest and more than likely most dangerous hill climbs I've ever done.

I still remember half way up the hill thinking - I am not that tired. And I am killing this hill. I made it to the top at Geyer by Meramac Community College and even though I still felt good decided it was time to head home because this runners euphoria was almost too good to last so I stopped after 11 miles.

We had several other training runs over the next few months during the winter training and beginning of lacrosse season and then it was finally race day.

April 10, 2005

This was over ten years ago so I don't remember a ton of the details but I do know that we did great. I remember running around the Budweiser plant and then out towards and around SLU. We all continued to encourage each other especially as we passed each others milestones for longest distance any of us had ran. When we got to my milestone at Mile 11, we knew we were almost there.

The three of us kicked it in and crossed the finish line within seconds of each other. And that's where my story all begins....

OFFICIAL RACE PIC - 1 state down, 49 more to go! #DREAMBIG

Daddy Kuttenkuler - our biggest fan of all!