Hearing your stories: Erinn Connor

After an unexpected life shift, embracing running with inspiration from Allie Ostrander + Clayton Young

Evening/afternoon, friends! ☀️ You may remember a few weeks ago, when I put out a call to share your stories about how you became a runner and where running has taken you. Last week, we heard from Rosalie Chan, and today we’re meeting another longtime THM reader, Erinn Connor.

I’m (still!) loving reading each and every one of your stories, and I’ll be sharing more of them over the coming days and weeks. Some will be in written format like this, while others will be in audio/video. So, stay tuned!

If you feel inspired after reading Erinn’s story, please don’t hesitate to reach out — I’d love to hear from you too! All you need to is reply back to me by email or in the comments below, and we’ll go from there. — Terrell

So, let’s hear a little bit about you! Who are you, your age (if you’d like to share), where you’re from, what you do, etc.

I am Erinn (with two n’s!), am 37 years old and living in Green Bay, Wis., which is also where I grew up. I only recently came back here — I wanted to get out of the Midwest as a teenager and went to school at Syracuse University. I graduated with degrees in journalism and anthropology and was a feature reporter all over — Columbus (Ohio), Dallas, Reading (Penn.), northern New Jersey, New York City — until the industry got too unsustainable and depressing for me. Now I do communications for global design and architecture firm. I have been a runner since 2015.

What does your running routine look like? How many times a week, and how far do you run?

It is usually dependent on if I’m training for something or not — I print out my training plan and post it and the satisfaction of crossing off the miles keeps me accountable. I am about to start training for the half marathon at the Grandma’s Marathon event in Duluth, and will be running four times a week with a base of about 12 miles during the week plus the weekend long run. If I’m not training, I am trying to get out there at least twice a week for three-ish miles and one Sunday longer run.

Courtesy Erinn Connor

Were you an athletic kid growing up? What are your early memories of what fitness and health were about?

So not athletic. I was overweight for most of my childhood, and really did not enjoy sports or fitness growing up because I felt so different from everyone else. I am taller, so I did play volleyball in middle school and really enjoyed it. I was so self-conscious about my weight that it probably stopped me from trying out different sports or activities. Running was definitely something I avoided at all costs for my whole childhood.

How did you first get into running? Was there something that inspired you — like a performance at the Olympics, for example, or a runner you discovered by watching them on social media or TV? Or was there someone in your own life who inspired you to think, “maybe I can do this?”

My runner origin story (like many others) is wanting a semblance of control in my life during a difficult time, and also to prove to myself that I could do something I hated and thought I couldn’t do most of my life. I had just ended an engagement and was dealing with what I thought had been a stable foundation of my life crumbling away.

While trying to figure out my next career move, where I wanted to move to and a zillion other hard and difficult things, I decided to do something I had long perceived as a hard and difficult thing that seemed quite easy at the time — running. I started with Couch to 5K in the middle of a very humid and sticky Kansas City summer, and feeling the satisfaction of doing and finishing a run, no matter how slow, helped me tremendously during one of the lowest points of my life.

How has your interest in running evolved since then? Do you run farther, or faster now?

I have gone farther! When I started I never thought I would do a half marathon, and now I have done four of them. Being fast has never been a goal of mine, I am always just happy to finish and know that my body was able to do it.

I would say now I am focused on incorporating more strength training and mobility (running made me discover I have hyper-flexibility and explained a whole lot of strange aches and pains over the years) so I can keep running and stay as injury free as possible. I would also like to travel to more races and use them as a way to see different parts of the country.

What do you balance your running with? Do you have a family to take care of? Kids, parents or other relatives or loved ones? If so, how do you balance all of it and still make time to run/care for yourself?

Compared to many people and a lot of my runner friends, I have significant flexibility to get my runs in. I am child-free by choice, and am mostly limited by my work schedule, my special needs dog and finicky Midwest weather as I refuse to run on a treadmill. My boyfriend has been very supportive of my running, and we do a lot of local races together now.

What have you learned about yourself from your running journey? Is there anything that’s changed about you since you started?

I like to think my younger and overweight self would be just as proud of my running accomplishments as current me. I lost a bunch of weight after college and running has helped me stay positive about my body, knowing it can achieve my running goals.

I also didn’t think I’d be able to run this consistently or longer distances as someone with a bigger butt and thighs, which sounds silly. But even now when I watch professional runners and see women running in basically underwear and a sports bra, it is still easy to feel like it is a sport where the most lithe people succeed.

I am a big fan of Allie Ostrander’s YouTube channel and how outspoken she has been about her eating disorder and challenging a lot of the not so great running opinions. When I do races I am always heartened to see women who look like me, and that we’re all getting to the same finish line.

Where would you like to go with your running? Is there anything special you’d like to achieve — like, say, running all six World Marathon Majors, or running an ultra?

I just got rejected from the New York City Marathon lottery, which is a bummer! But I have been flirting with doing a full marathon for the year I turn forty. So I can prove to myself I can do that distance, even if it is only once.

What keeps you going? Especially if you’ve been running for a while — do you ever get bored with it? How do you find new things to motivate you, to keep you going?

Like most people, I struggle with the motivation to get out the door. I often drive places (trails or neighborhoods with sidewalks) to run because the lack of respect and courtesy to pedestrians of any kind around here is not very high. Not feeling safe just in my own neighborhood feels like a deterrent sometimes.

But the post-run mental clarity is always worth it. I work from home and sometimes it is the first time I’m leaving my house for the day, which is also good motivation. I also try to not repeat the same route too often to keep it interesting.

I also find Clayton Young’s YouTube docu-series really motivating — even though he is running at paces I cannot fathom for myself, and going to the Olympics, the honest way he talks about his training and process is still really relatable. He shows up and does his best, just like the rest of us non-elites. Usually I am inspired to go for a run after watching an episode.

Look back at yourself when you were a kid, maybe say 10 years old. Remember how you felt, what you thought, especially what you thought you were capable of back then. If you could talk to that kid now, what would you say?

I would say don’t let how you look hold you back from trying new things. I probably would’ve tried different sports or movement when I was younger if I believed I didn’t have to be thin to do them.

I would also say that running or any type of physical activity has just as much mental and emotional benefits as it does physical. I saw exercise back then as a means to an end, and the end was always being skinnier. I am hopeful kids right now don’t feel that pressure, and can see athletes of all shapes and sizes accomplishing amazing things.