I finally finished my undergraduate degree at the University of Tulsa at the age 34, after years spent as a young military wife, raising my daughters. One of my classrooms has a large mirror on the wall, and I happened to turn my head. I saw myself, really saw myself for the first time in years. I had been so wrapped up in my identity as a military wife, a mother, and various volunteer activities in those areas that I realized I had stopped caring about who Erin really is. I was in my mid-30s, overweight, I had just had braces put on to fix a jaw issue, I found myself thinking about how I can change what I saw.
Initially I joined a bootcamp gym near my home. I went for months, religiously at 5am, and started seeing results. I went from a 14/16 jeans to a 10 fairly rapidly. But, as with almost any routine, I began to stall. The weight plateaued, and in the meantime, my marriage was crumbling into an emotionally abusive and unstable mess.
My daughter joined the middle school cross country team and I decided to join her in running, for something to do outside of my gym. I realized I liked it. I liked the way running made me feel, and how it was changing my outlook on life. After talking to several distance runners, I made the decision to run a half-marathon in Nov. 2016. My now ex-husband told me “you’ll never finish it”. Naturally, I felt even more emboldened to take this on. Running took on an importance to me that I’ve never felt with anything except my school work and raising my daughters.
After my divorce, I threw myself into running and coaching beginning runners through No Boundaries. I remarried, to a man who also values running and being well. Together, we’ve completed several half marathons, and ran our first full marathon together in April of 2018. In November of 2018, I ran the New York City Marathon. I’m a back of the pack athlete. I’m not built like an elite, I don’t run like an elite. I am happy with what my body can do.
Today, I’m a triathlete with aspirations of racing Ironman 70.3 in Des Moines for Team Ironman Foundation. I’ve run two marathons and am training for a third. My goal is to become an Ironman in the next two years. I am a graduate student, finishing my M.Ed in Reading, and teach Deaf and hard of hearing middle schoolers when I’m not running. I have 4 wonderful teenagers, all of them active in marching band and football. I run for me, I run for them, and I run for people everywhere who use this medium to love themselves, truly and unconditionally.
Erin Shepherd
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