New Runners Take First Step on Marathon Journey

Kelly O’Neil met Kasey Manwaring in college.

“I knew how crazy she was,” O’Neil said.  “She used to get up at six in the morning everyday to go run.”

“I never ever run—ever,” O’Neil said.

Still, O’Neil responded when Manwaring put up a message on Facebook that she was seeking overweight people who might be interested in training for a marathon.

“I was talking to a friend,” Manwaring said.  “And I said how much fun it would be to train a group of people to run a marathon who had never run before.”

“I was terrified,” O’Neil said.  “I was injured last February, and I had to have surgery on my leg.  The doctor basically told me I would never run again.”

“We had seven people show up to that first practice at the Roxborough High track,” Manwaring said.  “There was a lot of apprehension.”

“I got there at the same time as another guy in the group, and we both said, ‘what are we getting ourselves into?’” O’Neil said. 

The first practice was rough.  Both O’Neil and Manwaring said that the majority of the group had a hard time completing just one lap.

“I asked them after that first practice if they were still interested in doing a full marathon,” Manwaring said.  “I said we can just do a half.”

“The group committed to the full marathon,” O’Neil said.

So, the You Should Be Running Marathon Crew was formed.

“I try not to think about it,” O’Neil said.  “It’s overwhelming.”

Still, the group is just a few weeks into its training, and it just finished its first 5k.

“All of the runners were really successful,” Manwaring said.  “I’m going to organize more of these fun runs to get them psyched for the Philadelphia Marathon in November.”

“All I wanted to do was not come in last,” O’Neil said about the 5k.  Manwaring had two groups running at the race.  The runners who were doing better in the training were running a five-mile race while the others ran a 5k.

“I didn’t want to lose to the people who were running five miles,” O’Neil said.

“When the race started, I was running with my friend Gina, but she got out ahead of me.”

O’Neil added, “Kasey has mentors run with us, and my mentor just kept saying, ‘Keep your pace.  You’ll be fine.  You’ll catch her.’”

O’Neil did just that.  She caught Gina.  She passed her.

“I ran my fastest pace ever,” O’Neil said. 

O’Neil enjoyed the experience so much that she ran the equivalent of a 5k just a few days later.

“I’ve gone from running no 5ks in my life to running two in a week,” O’Neil said.  “I’m feeling very motivated.