By Annie Howard
Dana Travis is staying strong, or at least she’s trying to.
The Vestavia Hills resident, wife, mother of three and vice president of account services at blr | further started the year with a new challenge – running the Village2Village 10K on March 11.
Since being profiled in the Jan. 12 edition, the novice runner has been prepping for the challenge at Resolute Running Training Center.
“It’s going,” she said recently, “which means I’ve continued to show up.”
So far, training has been full of highs and lows, she said. Time is her number one hurdle. Everything takes up space on her busy schedule, and sometimes it’s hard to make room for group runs. She’s missed a few because of business travel and family commitments. While she’s made the runs up solo, she said she was feeling “astray and deflated.”
“It’s a daily struggle for me,” she said, “and the exact emotional response, I’d like to manage better.”
Travis is coming up on week five of training with Resolute, and she said running isn’t getting any easier yet. She still has to power through pre-group-run anxiety and those pesky timed running sets. But she said she’s isn’t giving up.
“I’ve surprised myself at times,” Travis said.
She also is finding plenty of support and “encouraging high-fives,” along the way.
“The group of ladies that I’m training with are genuine and motivating,” she said. “And the Resolute trainers are so positive, energetic, and encouraging – all things a true beginner like me needs.”
Although she can’t say she looks forward to her runs yet, the feeling after each run makes all her hard work worthwhile.
“Each completion is a ‘W’ in a personal category I have omitted for a long time,” she said.
Working toward a healthier self is important to her. It hasn’t been easy, but she’s keeping at it and training hard.
Meanwhile, V2V is getting closer.
“I can’t lie. The fear is real!” she said. “I’m trying not to think about the hills in V2V I feel sure will be my nemesis.”
But, for now, she’s choosing to take it all one week at a time. “Baby steps,” she said.
OTMJ will follow Travis’ steps toward becoming a runner as she nears her V2V goal.
