Basic Information:
I was born and grew up in Traverse City, MI. I am the oldest of three children, and all of us, along with our mother, are runners. I was on my high school track and cross country teams, but my true love in those days was band. I played the flute and piccolo, and while in high school I was in the marching, pep, concert, and symphonic bands. I served as section leader during my senior year.
After high school, I attended college in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I majored in English/Secondary Education and minored in French Education, and graduated in December 2008 with my Bachelor of Arts degree. As in high school, I was very active in the band program at my university. I spent 5 seasons with the marching band (and made cameo appearances from time to time after that), serving as Drill Instructor for 3 seasons and Secretary/Treasurer for 2. I also participated in the symphonic band and in the university pep band. It was through there that I fell in love with college hockey, and I spent many weekends following the Wildcats, making many friends from all over the country along the way. I also served as a volunteer assistant with the hockey team, helping with fundraising events and working as on off-ice counselor during the summer youth hockey camp.
It was through this love of hockey that I also met my fiancé, Brandon. We are both members of a college hockey forum, and big supporters of our teams. He and I connected when he messaged me to give me a hard time for not coming to a game in which my school was playing his. This conversation led to many more, and a month later he came to visit me. The rest is history--we have been together since that day in January of 2009. In August of 2010, I moved up to his college town to be with him during his final semester of engineering school, and that following January we relocated together to our new hometown of Duluth, Minnesota, where he got his first job right out of school. Two days after our move, which was also our 2nd anniversary, he asked me to marry him. Seeing as how I have already referred to him as my fiancé you can guess my answer! :D We will be married on June 23, 2012 on my family's property back in Michigan, and plan on honeymooning in the Pacific Northwest.
Currently, I work as an assistant manager and director of marketing and sponsorships at a running specialty store in Duluth. Along with running, I also love writing, cooking, reading, skating, yoga, and crocheting. I am also very in to watching sports, and I am a huge fan of the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit Lions, the Oakland Raiders, and (of course) the Northern Michigan University Wildcats! This makes my relationship with my fiancé all the more interesting, because he is a fan of my rival teams: the Chicago Blackhawks, the Green Bay Packers, and the dreaded dogs of the north--the Michigan Tech Huskies. We have found some common ground with the Minnesota Wild, and we both enjoy traveling down to St. Paul to see a game whenever possible. Another team we have recently both come to follow are the Portland Timbers of the MLS, and we hope to catch a game (and hang out with their awesome fan group, The Timbers' Army) next year on our honeymoon.
My Running:
I have been running on and off since I was 9, when I joined an elementary school track team in my hometown. I ran all through high school, putting in 4 seasons of Cross Country and 4 seasons of Track. I was never a star runner, but I earned 4 varsity letters in Cross and 2 in Track, ending my senior season by running in the Big North Conference finals in the 1600 meter run. My goal for my senior season of Cross Country was to set a PR for every course we ran. I accomplished this goal, while also setting my overall high school 5K PR of 23:40 at the Elk Rapids Cross Country Invitational.
After high school, I admit I pretty much stopped running. I would pick it up from time to time, usually during breaks from school or when I felt I was getting too out of shape. It never seemed to last more than a few weeks at a time before I would burn out and stop. However, a year after my college graduation, I noticed how out of shape I was becoming and how much my health was beginning to suffer from my inactivity. I made a resolution to run on a more consistent basis and to complete a half-marathon during 2010. This resolution was what led me to start the Run, Lindsey Ann, Run blog, and I am happy to say that I have continued to run and work out on a much more consistent basis. I am also proud to say that I did come through on my resolution and completed my first half marathon! I ran the inaugural Marquette Half Marathon on September 4, 2010, and my official race time was 2:02:55. Training was hard, but it was honestly one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. I am also proud to say that I have continued that resolution, and I am beginning to see an incredible increase in speed and strength. Over the year, I have nearly doubled my mileage totals, and have set many new PR's. Among these are the 1:48:51 I ran in the Bayshore Half Marathon on May 28, 2011, and the 22:48 I ran at the Midnight Sun Midnight Run 5K on June 24, 2011. As of this writing, I plan on returning to the course that started it all, Marquette, to see if I can't hit or break a 1:45 half marathon.
Other Random Information:
-My hometown, my college town, and my new hometown are all on the Great Lakes. I have never lived more than 3 miles from one of them in my life, and I dread the day when this is no longer the case, though someday I would like to live in the Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN area.
-If I wasn’t a runner, and if I had the finances to invest in it, I would be a cyclist. I loved biking as a child and I still love it as an adult. I also love skating, and would someday love to learn how to play the sport I have followed so closely for so long--hockey!
-Even though I have not been an active member of an ensemble for at least 3 years, I still and will always consider myself a “band geek” at heart. I truly do not know what I would have done without band and the amazing people I have met through it.
-In college, I worked during breaks as a barista. Had it been a viable career option, I would have continued doing that because I loved what I did, even if I didn’t always love where I was doing it.
-In the summer of 2008, I spent 2 weeks in France with my student teaching supervising teacher and 5 of her students. I learned so much in those 2 weeks, and they changed my life forever, even if the biggest of those changes didn’t manifest themselves until weeks or months after my plane landed back in the US.
