Inspiring others to run the distance is Amanda Griffin-Jacob, who, last month, finished her first full marathon in Paris with an impressive PR of 4:26:40.
Jacob, according to her blog (amandagriffinjacob.com), took up running seriously only last year, when she signed up “on a whim” for a 150-kilometer race. Prior to that, the model/TV personality had been a recreational runner, running 5k for fitness. (She once joined, in 2010, a 10k Unicef run in Hong Kong that left her injured.)
“The last two weeks before the race were my Waterloo. I wanted to quit every day. That was my tipping point. Luckily, I had my support system who were able to talk me off the ledge—mainly my dear husband David—each time,” she wrote in her blog.
It was the death of her father that made Jacob turn to, among others, training for healing. Running a full marathon, however, was initially not among her plans. In fact, it held no appeal to her, she confessed, until fashion photographer Sara Black talked her into it.
It was then that she discovered she was stronger than she thought she was.
“When I’m running, especially long distances, I think a lot about my Dad, myself and my life, and I fall into an almost meditative state where everything gains clarity,” she wrote.