My Journey as a Runner - by Kennedy

My name is Kennedy and I love to run. I’m good at it too. I run so that I can get exercise and be healthy. My earliest memory of running was when I was about 5 ½ and I would finish races with my mom and cross the finish line with her. (And if you read all that stuff about my twin sister Landry, same for me - same age, same grade, same school, same sports, same number of half marathons, but she was Vice President and I compete in speech).



My favorite race ever was the year we ran the Biofreeze Berkeley Half Marathon and it rained. My mom checked her weather app with a bunch of other runners and it said the rain wasn’t supposed to start until a half hour after the race started. Guess what? It was raining before we even made it to the one mile marker.



I’m a big fan of Dean Karnazes and met him at this year’s Biofreeze San Francisco Marathon. He had just finished an ultra-marathon, which meant he ran the marathon from the finish to the start, and then ran from the start to the finish. He didn’t look as tired as I thought he would!



On our cross country team, I love encouraging other runners and I love running on relay teams for track. I’ve been running the 4x100 and 4x400 for years and I don’t have a favorite. They are both great distances. I’ve learned that when we really work as a team, we can conquer our goals!

Yes, I'm a Runner! By Landry

I’m Landry and I’m 13 years old. For the last two years, I’ve been an Ambassador for the Biofreeze San Francisco Marathon and last year I was an Ambassador for the Biofreeze Berkeley Half Marathon. I’ve played competitive soccer with Santa Clara Sporting since I was seven years old and at my middle school, I play five sports: cross country, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and track. And I just finished a year as Student Body Vice President.




I started running when I was four. My mom would run half and full marathons and when she reached a certain spot, I’d run across the finish line with her. I always thought it was funny when people would say, “That little girl just ran a half marathon!” The bummer was that my mom never let me take the medal that volunteers handed me because she said I needed to earn it.



Fast forward to two years ago when I was eleven. I finally decided I’d run a half marathon (and we convinced my dad that I wouldn’t get hurt). I trained with the Run365 program when I wasn’t playing soccer on weekends. This past July, I finished my 9th half marathon in the last two years.



I always lay out my clothes before a race and take a picture of my invisible self. I really enjoy running with the Run365 team because they treat me like an adult and not like a 13 year old. Our team runs lots of races together, like Santa Runs and Turkey Trots.



I love running cross country and track at school because it’s fun to be with other runners who like the same things that I do. And it’s great exercise. I love being an Ambassador for the Biofreeze San Francisco Marathon because I’ve been told I inspire other runners and I can tell people about that race.