Hi! My name is Suzanne Dodson and I run to burn off the crazy (true fact! I have WAY too much energy)!!! What started in the Fall of 2011 as walking to get away from an unhappy
situation morphed into running when my friend, Jan Shekell, who was a REAL runner (she ran Boston TWICE!) challenged me to run the Mini Marathon in the Spring of 2012! I’m an Aries and a natural redhead so of course I took the challenge and started running! Lucky for me that someone caught me early on and told me that I should TRAIN for a Half Marathon - normal people don’t just up and run 13.1 miles one day because they feel the urge! Best. Advice. Ever. I downloaded a plan and trained and in the Spring of 2012 the addiction became real! That first half marathon was the most fun!!! And every single race since then has only fueled the fire!!! I love to run!!! I ran by myself for the longest time and it was great, but then about six years ago I discovered my Fleet Feet running family and things have only gotten better!!!
Favorite Distance? I like a good Half Marathon. I’ve done a few Marathons and they are fun, but there is SO much training that goes into one!! A Half Marathon is fun and exciting and just about the time you start to get a little tired, it’s done! I have one last Marathon on my radar and then I will stick to only the Halfs!
Best Running Advice: Take the time to enjoy the run! Training is fun and getting faster is fun, but honestly running should be a good way to relax and shrug off the troubles of the day or the week or the year! Find your team and let them make your run better. The support you will get from a fellow runner is like no other. They will lift you up when you are feeling down or cheer you across the finish line or support you when you have an injury and are losing your mind because all you want to do is run! Oh! and never skip a good hill!!! Hills are the challenge that can make your day! I have a friend who hated hills when we both started running together - I swear she is starting to look forward to them now because you feel like such a bada** when you run all the way to the top together without breaking stride! I LOVE to run the hills!!
River City Races: I do love the River City Races! The Polar Bear Grand Prix races are some of my favorite races!!! They are super affordable and you get to run Cherokee Hills! And there are usually tons of my FF teammates running together, all of us pushing ourselves to win one of the finisher medals!! I have a very fond memory of my friend Kaitlin pushing me SO HARD during the Frostbite 5K to win a medal! The Santa Sprint has been a great deal of fun over the years we even ran it in the pouring rain a couple of years ago! The Downtown Doubler on the Greenway is so much fun!
There will be days when I don’t know if I can run a marathon. There will be a lifetime knowing that I have!