What Do You Have to Lose?

Chattanooga Ambassador John Calhoun’s Story

Sports have long been a part of who I am, dating even back to middle school – but running was never something I was interested in. In fact, I never understood why people ran and what they liked about it.

A few years back, my dad and brother each had a heart event that soon had me examining my exercise routine. So about two years ago, I bought a decent pair of sneakers and began running. I didn't spend too much because I wasn't sure I would last since I never enjoyed it previously.

For the record, I’m on my fourth pair of running shoes.

Throughout the next year I really started to enjoy it – something I never thought I’d say. I began using the running app Strava, where I could see friends’ activities and feel like I was part of a running community. The accountability I found in this app really helped me to keep pushing.

During this time my neighbor and friend started running with me and now shares a similar story as me. Around August of last year, he and I began talking about races we wanted to participate in. We started out talking about a 5K, which in the early stages of our running sounded like a big accomplishment, and then we started talking about longer races until we decided we wanted to push ourselves and do a distance we hadn’t done before. So we signed up for the Erlanger Chattanooga Half Marathon. My neighbor had completed a few 5Ks years ago but hadn’t participated in a half marathon before. I had never done a single race prior to the half marathon, so I had no idea what to expect.

We began to train, focusing on building distance. With two weeks leading up to the race, we finished our longest run to date – 10 miles – and felt we were prepared for the race. While we navigated some health issues on race day, we both completed our first half marathon and were taken back by how well the event went.

I was amazed at all the support we received from random people along the race, and I was really encouraged to keep pushing till the end. Who would have thought that people I had never met would have that much of a positive impact on me?

This race will always be special as it was my first race, but I encourage those wondering if they can do it to come out and give it a try. It was an experience I will never forget.

Join me by signing up me for the 2018 Chattanooga Marathon. What do you have to lose?