About Me

So here is a little background information about me to get things started.  I went to Island Trees in Levittown, New York for elementary, middle and high school where I was very involved in music and sports.  I started out playing lots of basketball and soccer, and like many people joined track as a way to stay 'in shape.'  I didn't take running very seriously until my junior year in high school.  We didn't have a cross-country or winter track team so I went to another local high school (Plainedge) to train and represented my school as an individual.  Then, in the spring I ran on the spring track team at Island Trees.  I was an ok high school runner with many local accomplishments such as All-County and qualifying to go to the state meet in cross-country my junior and senior year and in the 3000 meters in Spring Track during my junior year.  My high school PR's are nothing to talk about, 5k-20:02, 3000-11:02, 1500-5:04. 

For all you high school runners out there who wonder "Am I really fast enough to pursue this whole running thing?"  the answer is YES you are as long as you have a few other things, a DREAM, an ability to BELIEVE, a desire to WORK HARD, DEDICATION and SUPPORT. 

Now back to the whole about me stuff, after high school I went on to pursue my dream of becoming a music teacher at The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.  I ran DIII cross-country throughout my college experience, and a few track races here and there as we only had an official cross-country team.  By the end of college I had become an All-American and brought my 5k PR down to 16:38. 

I was considering continuing to run after college but plagued by injury my senior year I moved on with my teaching degree in hand, got my first job teaching band, orchestra, chorus and general music at Shubert Elementary School in Baldwin, NY.  One year later, wanting to focus my teaching more on band, I got a job teaching elementary school band at Searingtown School in the Herricks School District and that is where I still am today, making music with a wonderful group of students, in a great community. 

After not running for 3 years I landed myself back in the sport and quickly started that fire within me again.  Recently I have won the 2011 US 50k championships and won the Long Island Marathon with an Olympic Trials qualifying time of 2:42:54.  I am fortunate to be in a supportive district that has given me a one-year leave to train for the Olympic Trials and I hope to share that journey with you right here!
Thanks for reading!
Jodie