I’m Chelsea, I’m a runner and this blog began as a journey in tracking my steps as I ran my first half marathon. Now, my running has grown to so much more than I could ever imagine. But before I began running 13.1 miles, I had to start somewhere….

I ran my first race when I was 5 at the Revco Cleveland Marathon Kid’s Fun Run. Between then and 6th grade, I ran a number of school field day races each year. I didn’t know it then, but I was starting to love this thing called running.

I continued to run in middle school and high school, running cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. After high school, I traveled to Southern Ohio and ended up at Muskingum University. With the help of coaches, teammates and friends, I was able to quicken my stride and hit my best times in the mile, 5k and 6k.

After college, I moved back up to Cleveland. I took a year away from running and focused on starting a career and went back to school for my MBA. My legs became restless and I was ready to come back to running. After numerous 5k’s, it was time to step up my game and try a half marathon. In the spring of 2011, I trained for and completed my first half marathon in Cleveland, the same place I ran my very first race.

Since then I’ve completed 24 half marathons and finally broke 2:00 at my third Cleveland Half Marathon. I also followed the passion of one of my high school coaches and created The 25 Challenge with hopes of running a half marathon in half of the states.

The half marathon has undoubtedly become my favorite distance and race of choice, but there was still something missing. After watching friends and strangers cross the line after running 26.2 miles, I decided it was finally my turn. I completed my first marathon in October of 2012 in Columbus. In October of 2014 I came back with my strongest training cycle yet, and completed the Wineglass Marathon with a 21 minute PR.

I’ve covered the distances, but I know I’m nowhere near finished. I’ve still got quite a bit of states to cover and many more miles to run.  Follow my blog as I share my life as a twenty something, balancing work, running, travel and all that life has to offer.