Julianne

After reading Maritza, Aron, Tara and Kristin's intros below... I'm so thankful to be part of this awesome group. It's not everyday you find a group of women who share the love of running also have so many common threads. We are really lucky to have each other!!

I will always remember my first marathon back in the summer of 2005. The San Francisco Marathon was a race that I signed up for with much fear and nervousness. I really didn't know what it took to run a marathon. I looked up "marathon training programs" on Google and came across the Hal Higdon novice training program. I tried to stick to it as much as I could but training alone (and using the internet as a guide) definitely has it's limitations. I told my friends to show up at the finish line at a certain time and ended up finishing an HOUR earlier than expected! I was surprised to find myself finishing the marathon at 4:14:42. I've run 3 more SFMs since and looking forward to my 5th SFM this year. I hope I can PR again this year but just thankful that I am able to participate again.

Running a marathon was on my bucket list of things to do for a long time. I just never thought I'd be running so many of them since my first one. I used to run cross country in high school but it was never because I was passionate about running. (There was a boy involved!) It wasn't until much later I really appreciated the art of running and the heart to finish a marathon. I first started running to lose excess weight. It first started out a mile here and there on the treadmill. When I was able to run a whole mile without stopping, I knew I wanted to run further. And that's how the story goes. 1 mile somehow led to 26+ miles! Running has given me more self confidence, love for exercise, great friends and an outlet for angst, stress, among other things! 40 lbs down, 6 marathons and 4 years later, I still love running and looking for more.

Honestly, I have never run so much but loving every minute of it so far. Running has led me to blogging, which led me to wonderful ladies of ROHO and other runners from all over the world! I am looking forward to more running, more races, more friends... and well, more personal records. Yay for our first race this weekend at Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon! I think we're expecting quite a few PRs!

Kristin

I've been an athlete my whole life, taking an interest in soccer at a young age, running track and becoming an avid snowboarder in college, and recently, becoming a runner! It all started in January of 2008 when I got a flier in the mail from Train to End Stroke. I was going to be turning 25 and I thought it would be awesome to train for and complete a marathon. So that's what I did. Along the way I met Tara and Aron, and we quickly became friends and running partners.

Training for the San Francisco Marathon was such a great experience. Week after week I would hit another "mile" stone in my running life. I'll never forget how I felt after running 16 miles. For some reason, that run just really struck me as being a huge accomplishment. I was like "wow, I just ran 16 miles...I can't even imagine adding 10 more to that!" but I did, and I completed the SFM, my first marathon, on August 3, 2008.

Aron and Tara became staples in my running life. We compared shoes, running attire (I think the gear is sometimes more fun for us than actually RUNNING!), supported each other and continued to develop our friendship. When Tara ran the Nike Women's Marathon in October, Aron and I went to support her. That is where I met Maritza for the first time. Aron and I were so emotional for them and so happy to be there cheering them on! It was a great day. We stood a mile from the finish line waiting to cheer on Maritza and Tara. When we saw Maritza, Aron and I went out to run with her and encourage her to finish. I didn't even know Maritza, but here I was running along side her, giving her a major pep talk, and just being supportive. That to me was such a realization that running is more than just running, its a dedication in your life to achieve something greater than most people ever get to experience. You're pushing your body to its maximum and achieving such an incredible goal. It made me realize that running is a sport that you do individually, pushing and competing against yourself, but it's also about being supportive, finding friendship and experiencing this amazing achievement with people who know EXACTLY what you're going through.

I later met Julianne and I swear, our whole group was just love at first sight! We had a million things in common and can relate to each other through our passion for running. I hope we can share some of that passion here on this blog, and encourage others to do the same. I am looking forward to all our runs in 2009 and in the years to come. Go ROHOs!!!!

Tara

I have always been very active and enjoyed working out, but I was getting sick of the same old gym routine and used to remember how much I enjoyed it when I "ran" in college. I say "ran" because I would mostly run on a treadmill and obviously did not run nearly as frequently or as far as I do now. I had been thinking it would be fun to attempt to train for a half-marathon and then a few days later I received a flyer for Train to End Stroke in the mail. I went to the information meeting and I was sold! Being the competitive person that I am...mostly with myself...I said screw the half I am doing the full. A few weeks later I went to training kickoff where I met Kristin and after chatting we both realized we went to college together...Chico State!!! After several of our weekend training runs it was apparent that Aron, Kristin, and I were not only training together, but we were forming a friendship that would last long after our 1st marathon..SFM!!!

Aron and I participated in the San Jose Rock'n'Roll half marathon where I was introduced to Julianne. Soon after I met Maritza the morning of the Nike Women's marathon, my 2nd full marathon. Before I knew it we all were meeting for weekends runs and it has snowballed into much, much more! Aron decided it would be fun to get a group together for the Napa to Sonoma half marathon and logically we needed to come up with a team name. Julianne threw out a few names and the RoHo's, "Running our Hearts Out", were born!! Kristin designed a logo and we now are officially a force to be recogned with!! haha I feel like I have known these wonderful ladies for much longer than the several months that I actually have. They motivate me and inspire me to push myself. I love having them in my life and feel so grateful that they all have a crazy obsession with running that I can relate to!!!


Last year I completed 2 half marathons and 2 full marathons and I am beyond excited for this upcoming weekend where the RoHo's will be running our 1st race as a group!!!

aron

sometime around new years 2008 i received a flyer in the mail for train to end stroke and running the san francisco marathon. my husband chris and i have always been into working out but were never big runners, and we thought this would be a fun challenge to tackle. i have had a few friends who ran races and they always sounded like so much fun, plus the whole "training" aspect really makes you feel like an athlete which i love.

so we signed up with train to end stroke and on february 9th ran our first "training" mile, and from day one i was addicted. i loved being on a schedule and having a goal to shoot for. i met tara and kristin in the first couple weeks and it wasn't long before we all became friends. not only were we some of the few training for the full marathon, but we also were around the same age and really got along great. i am so lucky to have met them. training continued on and i loved the feeling of accomplishment i would get after another distance PR each week. i still remember getting to double digits and what an awesome feeling that was.

at the end of may tara, kristin and i ran our first half marathon together. it was such a great day and we all had a great race ending with chocolate and champagne. we continued to train together and had many adventures doing some crazy 20 mile runs through san francisco. it seems like the time went by so fast and before we knew it we were at the starting line of our first marathon - san francisco. we all had teary eyes as we started and a few hours later we were all marathon finishers!

tara, kristin and i continued to keep in touch and run together post SFM. through the blogging world i was able to meet julianne in person at a 5k in san francisco, and again at the san jose half marathon where i introduced her to tara. after chatting with maritza through email (she was one of the first blogs i read) we finally met up in person for her last run before nike and had a long chatty breakfast after. kristin and i were planning to cheer at nike so i drove maritza in and we met up with tara... and it's all been history since, very much "meant to be". i thought it would be fun to set up a team for the napa to sonoma half marathon in july, and so we started talking about team names and the team name ROHO was born, and now we are the ROHO girls :)

i have told these girls several times that i am SO LUCKY to have met them. it is so great to have such awesome girlfriends AND to share our passion of running. we all get along so great and i feel so blessed to have met them. we continue to meet very frequently for runs, cheer each other on at races, have slumber parties, attend other parties and just have fun.

in the short time we have all been friends we have already shared so many emotions... highs, lows, tears, laughs. when you need a shoulder to cry on, a person to obsess over numbers and running goals with, someone to laugh with, someone to cheer you on and make signs, someone to support you when you start to doubt yourself, someone to celebrate with when you reach your goals, and someone to bring you back up when you don't quite meet them... these girls are there. i can't wait to see what this year brings because we have A LOT of plans already and i know we are going to have many, MANY more memories to come (including the first race we are ALL running in this upcoming weekend!).

so not quite a year later after that first training mile, i have run 3 half marathons and 2 full marathons with many more in the future. running has truly become a passion and something that i just don't function well without. i do truly love to run.

Maritza

I started running in 2003, after I had moved to the Bay Area post-college, for my first job in the 'real world.' I hadn't exercised consistently since high school and I had definitely gained the freshman 15 ( except more like freshman 30) and wasn't doing much better. I never really ate a lot of junk food, but I was not the healthy eater I am now and I was definitely going through too many bottles of wine a week. I felt lazy and soft and pudgy.

I decided that enough was enough and that I was going to run around my block because running was free (at the time, so I thought) - I owned running shoes and shorts and a sports bra. I probably shouldn't even admit that I started running in a pair of New Balance that were really cross-trainers, and wearing 100% cotton apparrel. Forgive me, as I did not know any of the golden rules of running back then. I went out my front door for a lap around my block.....and probably made it halfway at the most before having to stop to walk because I was wheezing so badly. This was beyond ridiculous.

And that's how it began. One lap, turned into 2, turned into a 3 mile loop around my neighborhood. I moved then to a complex that had a gym and started using the treadmill, running around the nearby lake, and weight-training. I ran my first race on March 21st, 2004, the Across the Bay 12k. This will always be my most favorite race and I'll be running it again this year (I've only missed it once, when I was out of the country on vacation.)

2004 was also the year I decided to run my first marathon, along with the help, support, friendship and coaching of Jen. It was her first marathon too. I would not and could not have done it without her, I'm convinced. She was in charge of mapping our long runs and I was in charge of finding where we'd go eat our giant breakfast afterwards. Through this experience, Jen became one of my very best and closest friends...I can't really describe all she has done for me and how she's always there for me, in running and in life. I am so grateful that we got to share our first marathon experience together. She has far surpassed me in running skillz (not a typo) but we will always have our first. (*cheese*)

And now I have my RoHos, which I am also grateful for. Aron found my blog and we met up for a run. She knew Kristin and Tara from marathon fundraising. They met up with Julianne, who turned out to be connected to Tara, and who I was introduced to later on. There it is. At another fundamentally pivotal point in my life, when Jen had moved away and my life 180-ed on me, I found these ladies. This is exactly when I would be needing support, friends, and long runs...and it feels like they fell out of the sky just for me. What an amazing and well-timed gift of friendship I have found in these strong, amazing, and hysterically funny women. Yet again, I'm not sure I can accurately describe what they mean to me, and how their friendship has made me stronger than I thought I could be right now. And running together is the icing on the already wonderful cake. (*clearly more cheese*)

So there it is. 4 marathons and a ton of other races later, I'm a runner. And I love being able to call myself that. :)