Name: Jackie Rosolie
Age: 30
Marital Status: Married
Pets: Siberian Husky, Harley
Occupation: CPA
Hometown: King Park, NY
Current Town: Lindenhurst, NY
Hi Hillbillies! I’m so excited to be your Warrior of the week, and I apologize in advance with my late post. For some reason I was thinking the Saturday post was on Sunday, which doesn’t make sense. I think it was just wishful thinking on having a longer weekend. Also, I want to thank Lou for asking me to be warrior of the week.
I really did not start running until I was an adult, actually I always hated running. Depending on the day, I sort of do sometimes. I remember in school I would try anything to get out of running the mile in gym class. Even though I was never a fan of running, I always been active and played several sports growing up. As I am 5 ‘11, I obviously played basketball and I did play volleyball for a few years. Also, I played Lacrosse but I hated all the running it involved. Even though I was an “athlete”, I was never the star player. I still get all the time “Wow, you’re so tall you must have been a basketball star!”. My response was “No not at all’”. Also, coming from a tall family, my cousins always played basketball and I was always compared to them which I hated. I never felt that I was good enough, which caused me to not to be able to have fun with it.
Looking back, I think one of the reasons I do find my self enjoying running it is because it is just me, myself and I. If I don’t make a basket in, I am not upsetting a team. With running if I don’t get time I want, it is all on me and it will motivate me try harder next time. I know I will probably never be an elite runner, and it is fine. It is also not a priority of mine to train to be the best runner ever. I just enjoy the fact that I am doing it for myself and no one else.
Throughout college I would work-out and maybe go jogging with friends but I still wasn’t into it. My senior year of college, I broke my leg skiing and couldn’t walk for almost 5 months and even when I was able to I still wasn’t able to be very active on it. Which cause me to gain 25 pounds. Once I was cleared to finally be active again, I started to “run” off the extra pounds. This was about 2012 I started to run, but the most I would ever do is 2 or 3 miles. Usually I ran after work at Eisenhower park to avoid traffic. For years, one of my issues were I really had no one to run with or anyone with that interest so I really wasn’t motivated to run more than I was. I think we can agree running with a friend/buddy is much better plus it keeps you accountable.
In 2016, between working long hours every day than trying to study for the CPA exam. I did not prioritize running at all. I just wanted to get the test behind, since I procrastinated studying for it for years. For me studying for the exam was like a 2nd full time job, on top of my 50 plus hours a week I was working at my firm. There was just no time in the day, but all the work paid off. After over a year of studying I was able to pass the test. Funny, I would say once I pass I would run Marathon. Running a marathon has to be easier than passing this test. Side note: it’s been 2 years since I passed, I have yet to run a marathon.
Flash forward to earlier 2018, when I told myself I will run a half marathon. I knew I would regret it, if I never gave myself the chance to try it. So I signed up for the Diva’s Half Marathon. For the first few months of “training”, again I never really pushed myself past my 3 miles I was comfortable with. I signed up for the Dirty Sock Run 10k in early August because I knew I had to kick my butt in gear. There I ran into Meghan Walter. She and her husband are college friends with my husband and I, but since life gets hectic I haven’t seen them in a while. Fun Fact, her husband was actually a groomsmen in my wedding. After the race Meghan said I should run the hills with her the following week. The following week I ran the hills, which started our weekly runs together. I finally had a friend that wanted to run with me, which made it that much easier. Plus, when Meghan was like let runs 9 miles. In my head I was like “Ummm no, you are crazy!” but I still wanted her to run with me, so I would say “Sure! Sounds great!”. If it wasn’t for Meghan, I probably would of just ate my registration fee for the Diva Half Marathon I signed up for. However, I ended up running the Diva Half and the Suffolk Country Half this past October. Thanks Meghan!!!
I am so grateful she introduced me to the hills. Even though I do not make it out that often (I try at least once a month), I love the community it brings. When I go it is like having dozens of friends to run with. And everyone is so motivating and supportive. –>