Ok folks, get ready for the British Invasion!
Name: Victoria Gianninoto (aka Vicki, posh spice, crumpet)
Age: 35 (faaaast age group)
Married to: Anthony (for 11 years)
Kids: Dylan (9) and Zachary (5)
Occupation: Education Director at Prime Time Learning in Farmingdale.
As most of you know I am from the UK. I was born in a small town in South Wales where I lived until I decided to hop across the pond.
I am the youngest of 3 girls. My mother was a nurse but stayed home with us until I went to high school. My Dad, an engineer for Mobile oil worked on oil tankers which took him away from us for half of the year. I grew up a shy, pretty self conscious child. My sisters were more outgoing and naturally more academic than I was. They thrived in school and all that stuff seemed to come easy to them. I had to work at it and remember my high school French teacher telling me I was definitely not like my sister. (Jerk!)
I excelled in music and was a total band geek, playing the flute and singing in the choir. As nerdy as it was, I got to tour most of Europe in my teens which is an experience that being popular would never have gotten me!
As far as athletics I played a game called netball in high school. It’s similar to basketball but once you are passed the ball you can’t move. I played wing defense and was pretty good until I was thrown off the team for speaking up against a popular girl. There ended my sports career.
I studied music in college, which I hated. I wanted to be a nurse but my mother had other ideas, so I obtained a bachelors degree in music which I might as well hang in my bathroom! After that I got my teaching certificate and discovered my passion for education.
Shortly after I graduated I found myself in an Irish bar in Dublin. I knew the guy I was staring at was an American ( the Yankee hat kinda gave it away). I made my move and less than 6 months later we were married. Best decision ever!!
Jump ahead a few years! In 2010 we had our second son. With my first I dropped the weight almost instantly. This time was not going to be so easy. I remember sitting at home with 2 small children, exhausted and disgusted with myself all at the same time. I googled the fastest way to lose weight. Most of the top 10 answers included running. I was mortified. I wasn’t a runner. I hated running. My Dad was a distance runner and I never understood why he would leave the house for hours on end and come back dripping with sweat, all out of breath. But I was more afraid of being an out of shape Mom than trying this running thing. I signed up for a 5k 5 months away and headed out for my first training run.
About 7 minutes later I came back, lay down on the floor and regretted my decision!! How was I going to do this? The 5k was awesome. I didn’t run the whole thing but when I crossed the finish line I was hooked. I ran it 3 years in a row and went onto run a 10k and then signed up for a half. I trained solo for almost 5 years. I found training plans online and trained for and ran a full by myself. I had no clue what I was doing. Marathon training by yourself is probably the loneliest you can be. There’s something about logging miles and miles by yourself that changes you. It forces you to think, to contemplate, to really find yourself. I would never do that kind of training by myself now, but we all need those kinds of runs occasionally.
When we moved back to Long Island my husband had to find a chiropractor. He mentioned to the guy that his wife was a runner and the great Doctor Richard Nebiosini DC told him to invite me to the hills. Well, the rest is history! I am so grateful that I took the plunge and decided to run with other crazy people. I have accomplished more in these months of being a SHW than I did in the 5 years of being a solo runner. I’m excited to see what’s next!
Thanks for reading and good luck to everyone racing this weekend!!