How Running Changed My Life | Erin Phifer – How It All Started

I absolutely hated running for most of my life. I was the last kid to finish the mile run in elementary school, I specifically avoided sports because every single one seemed to have running involved. My friend reminded me recently that when I started working for a nonprofit with a charity marathon team, half of my team ran marathons and I said, with great conviction, “I am never going to run.” Little did I know how running will have changed my life.

The Moment Everything Changed

Well, fast-forward to October 2022, and I worked during the Chicago Marathon for the charity team, TEAM PAWS Chicago. I saw people running their first marathon, in tears when they returned to the post-race party. There were runners who were running their 50th marathon, and were still giving it their all. Among the crowd of people, I saw hundreds of runners, all of whom raised thousands for charity, return triumphant with a medal around their neck and with an incredible accomplishment under their belt. And I thought…why not me?

I signed up for the 2023 Chicago Marathon less than a week after that, through TEAM PAWS Chicago. Keep in mind, I could not physically run a mile without stopping at this point in time. I had not run voluntarily…maybe ever? And I said to myself, “ya, of course I can run a marathon.”

Signing Up… Without Running Experience

As a non-athlete, most running advice online was not meant for me. “Easy runs should feel easy” made me hate every second of running for months and months. Why wasn’t any of it feeling easy? When was I going to get faster? Why was I gaining so much weight (sorry kids, marathon training is not a weight loss strategy)? I spent a year hating running, and toed the start line at the 2023 marathon feeling sick to my stomach. My knee gave out around mile 10, and I hobbled through the remaining 16.2 miles in a very, very, very long 6:55:15. And I knew I wanted to do better. Cue me signing up for the 2024 Chicago Marathon.

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The Runner’s Mindset: Competing with Myself

I learned a lot training for my first marathon, but had so much more to learn going into marathon number two. And I immediately fell into the runner mindset of competing with myself – it’s one of my favorite parts of the sport. Every day runners are striving to be better than they were the day before. At the beginning of my second marathon training cycle, I decided to start posting about my training experience on Instagram, which has brought me closer to the running community and I’ve met some great people. I made a lot of changes during my second marathon, and ended up PR’ing by 28 minutes – but the biggest win was that I fell in love with running over that year. I was also inspired to quit drinking alcohol during the marathon training block and am now over 200 days sober.

Why Running is Truly for Everyone

Running has literally changed my life, in ways I never thought it would. I am healthier physically, but also mentally.

I’m now training for my third marathon, the Berlin Marathon, with the goal of running a five hour marathon. My goal is to show people that running is for everyone. Bad days will come and they will go, and even us non-athletes can make a big change in our lives.

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