Name: Craig Alan Brekne
DOB: 3/5/1987
Girlfriend: Jamilee Jones
Occupation: Driver/Countermen at West Hampton Plumbing Supply
First off I would like to say thank you to Lou for picking me to be thewarrior of the week. I still cannot believe I am a runner! But considering I am writing this following a 21 mile training run in preparation for the Suffolk county marathon, I guess it is about time I accept the fact that I am a runner!
So like many of you I was never an athlete gowning up. I was far from it!! I was a huge nerd! I was the captain of my high schools robotics team and went to college to earn a degree in electrical engineering. I dreaded the day every year when the presidential fitness test came around! The idea of running just a mile was terrifying!! So if you had told me at 17 that I would be running 6.2 miles or more on hills and enjoy it I would have laughed in your face! It is crazy where life takes us.
I grew up here on long island and was born and raised in Selden. I had moved to north Carolina for a bit and then in May of 2014 I moved back I was very over weight and out of shape and I made a pledge to myself that I was going to lose weight and get in shape. I stared running around my neighborhood. I struggled just to get around my block which was just a half mile. So I had a long way to go! But I had always wanted to do a triathlon so my goal was to do a sprint triathlon boy did I have a long way to go! (but more about that later) but I kept running and getting out there then in October of 2014 John Heitner said that I should come run the Selden hills with him so I did and boy did that change my life!! Not only did I run the hills for the first time that day but that evening I had my first date with the love of my life Jamilee Jones!! Then I joined the group and started running on Sunday mornings and this group is so welcoming I just had to keep coming back I felt I couldn’t let all these great people down!! The more I ran the hills the more I was inspired to run more!! That is without a doubt my favorite part of this group the mass amount of positive inspiration I see and hear from everyone! I always am telling people how I look forward to meeting up with everyone for a run because everyone is so positive! It doesn’t matter how bad everyone’s week may have been when I see them at the hills it is all smiles and encouragement! To me that is the greatest power of the group and the hills!! It is why I keep coming back for more!! Thank you for all reading this and thank you for continually inspiring me to push harder and run longer!!