Meet the #runAkron Team: Lauren

Welcome to the second of four "Meet the #runAkron Team!" guest posts! My Akron Marathon Relay teammates have graciously agreed to contribute some of their running story to my blog. Today, you'll get to know Lauren, the funniest, sweetest, and most bad-ass person I know :-) Enjoy!

Name:  Lauren Nicole Reighard Bailey

Location:  Sigh.  Gaithersburg, MD.  I just go with the greater DC metro area. 

Favorite Race Distance:  26.2

Races on your “Bucket List”:  Since Big Sur was it, I haven't figured out which is next.  My knee jerk- London, but maybe Maui.  

How did you start running?  

I started running in college to relieve stress and scare away any extra weight courtesy of the chicken fingers dipped in cheese that I was so fond of :)

What’s the weirdest thing that’s happened to you/weirdest thing you've seen while out on the road?  

I think that some people would say that the weirdest thing in race was when I came in dead last at Big Sur, but that was truly my proudest.  The actual weirdest thing that's happened was I was in NYC with friends during my last cycle. We were running Central Park (which by the way is a MUST DO for runners!!)  and I was telling my friend about Team in Training.  This woman, OUT OF NOWHERE, starts telling me how she started TnT, like founded it.  I played along but then started to pull ahead of her to stop the crazy. Spoiler alert. TnT was founded by Bruce Cleland (in NYC I'll give her that): 

http://www.teamintraining.org/ct/firsttimehere/themissionandhistory/

I can’t run without...

A good night's sleep.  Seriously.  It's a function of getting old but I literally can't get out there for my training runs unless I've logged MINIMUM 7 hours sleep.

What’s the best piece of running advice you've been given? 

When I failed at the Pittsburgh Marathon in 2012, Miles (@askmiles) tweeted me "live to run another day" which I take to heart.  Sure it would be great to kill it every time but what good is there if you might never have anything left in the tank for your next run?

In the starting corral for a race you can find me...

Dancing, bopping around, clapping and waving :)

If you could go back in time, what’s one thing you wish you’d known before you started running?  

That I would eventually want to do it all the time and do it well.  

When I’m not running, I'm...
Eating.

What’s your favorite post-race food?  

Ohhh you know -- anything edible!  I like to start with sweets -- doughnuts, cookies and then graduate to burritos, pizza, egg sandwiches, burger, chips and salsa, you name it!

My running mantra is...

Because I can.  I repeat this over and over to myself because I know there as so many people who would kill for the advantage of working legs, hearts and lungs.  

If you could run with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?  

Kate Middleton.  She seems like a fun person to do something athletic/anything with.  

You can keep up with Lauren's running adventures here:

Blog: http://lnrbformiles.wordpress.com

Twitter: @lnrbailey

Instagram: lnrbailey