My “fitness journey” is a relatively recent life event, but one I really hope sticks around. Its origin is completely out of vanity, but I believe it has cultivated into something better. For the sake of context, I will give a quick recap of how this started…
- Bought a new horse in spring 2023
- Took announcement photos with said horse in summer 2023
- Got the photos back
- Cried for days at what I looked like
- Got mad that I was crying
- Decided to do something
- Started running because that was the physical exercise activity I thought would be easiest to start
I started running the two-mile “school loop” at the old house in Derry. For the first couple of weeks, you would have thought I was dying. I remember those initial runs being so hard and discouraging. Growing up playing soccer, I typically thought of myself as a pretty athletic person. What I didn’t realize was that I had given up soccer many years prior, and while riding does require some muscle and coordination, it isn’t a true cardio workout. Neither was barn work, which is what I had assumed was keeping me in shape all those years.
Despite the hard start, the validation of the running came pretty quickly, which made it easy to stick with. When I moved back to Kentucky in August 2023, one of my good friends immediately noticed I had lost some weight since the spring. I was so excited. I might have hated the running back then, but at least it was doing something noticeable, so it seemed to be paying off.
That’s when things started going downhill, but it wasn’t from a lack of trying. My “running sneakers” were random, off-brand sneakers I had bought on clearance at Off Broadway, and were definitely not made to actually run in. I was running the same distance, 7 miles, every single day with no rest days. I did absolutely no strength work. My nutrition was not correct, even though I was making a conscious effort to eat as perfectly as possible.
See where I am going with this? If you guessed injury, you are 100% correct. I must have sprained my ankles at least a double-digit number of times. My knees were shot. I limped everywhere, and not like an “I’m just a little sore” kind of limp, I mean an “is your leg even still attached to your body” kind of limp. I was in pain all the time, but continued to run (let’s be honest, it was a really ugly marching motion because I physically couldn’t do anything else) even as I was crying. My mile-long walking commute to class each day took almost forty minutes, one way, because I had to stop and rest so I wouldn’t show up in tears. It got so bad thatmy favorite professor actually threatened to report me to Student Health if I didn’t figure my stuff out.
When I came home for spring break 2024, my parental unit made me a physical therapy appointment. Unfortunately, it resulted in no real answers to what was wrong, and the suggestion moving forward was “take some time off, let your body heal, and try again in a better way”. I forced myself to take the time off. My father bought me my first real pair of running shoes (my goodness, do you even know how expensive those things are? I almost died at checkout, and I wasn’t even the one paying for them. Thanks, Josh!). I went back to running slowly, making sure I mixed in strength training, and eventually I got my mileage back.
My first year at UConn (fall 2024) was a whirlwind. I (very) slowly got my mileage up, completing my first double-digit miles run in March 2025, and things just took off from there. I became obsessed with long-distance running. Being fast was never going to be in the cards for me. I am not built like a true runner (I am short and compact, and these legs were not made to cover distance), and I didn’t necessarily care how fast I was as long as I could go far. For some reason, in my brain, running fifteen miles was way more impressive than running a five-minute mile.
Disclaimer – People who can run five-minute miles are extremely impressive, and I have the utmost respect for them. It is just not my current goal.
2025 was the year of distance for me. Ten miles became a half-marathon (which I completed in FL during spring break, and I thought it was the coolest spring break activity EVER). A half-marathon became fifteen miles. Fifteen became twenty. Eventually, I completed my first marathon-distance run in August 2025. Since then, I have completed the marathon distance three times (twice in CT, once in NH). Currently, I am averaging sixty to sixty-five miles per week, with my weekly long run being twenty miles.
Future goals when it comes to running…
- Run my first official marathon race
- Run a sub-4 marathon
More long-term goals …
- Run a marathon in every state
- Run Boston
- Run London
- Run the Great World Race (World Marathon Challenge)
I have never been so proud of myself than when it comes to my fitness. It wasn’t a linear journey by any means. Some days, I still procrastinate starting my run, and sometimes it takes an intense amount of bargaining, bribing, and threatening to get myself out there. But ultimately, running isn’t about physical exercise (or perfecting the external appearance I was chasing at the start of all this) anymore. Now, it is about making a commitment to myself, to show up for the person I am and the person I want to be. It is about taking some time every day for myself – whether it’s to listen to a good book or podcast, to sing as loudly as I want through some random little neighborhood, or to just take some time for self-reflection.
I am so grateful to have the privilege to be able to take hours out of each day to get a run in.
I am so grateful for a body that can support the level of activity I am trying to achieve.
I am so grateful for the support I have found in my family as I embark on this running journey.
I am so grateful to have chosen to run those two miles a couple of years ago.
Haley Rutstein 
Leave a comment