The real story starts years ago. But the immediate story begins in 2016, when I finally put together a season of consistent training after years of battling injuries. Much to my surprise, I ran 2:49:21 in the 2016 Chicago Marathon, and felt great doing it. I spent a day enjoying the accomplishment, and then began to wonder if I could go faster. What else could I achieve? I felt a fire within me.
Whether you’re first or fifteenth on the cross country team, you run. Hard.
“Every single day I see everyone run until their lungs are on fire,” said Fernanda Yepez–Lopez, a senior at Walter Johnson, in Bethesda.
Jen Maranzano is an attorney who writes a little on the side, starting with RunWashington in 2016. She stopped being an attorney for a little last year while to train full time. Read more of her writing here.
Name: Jen Maranzano