Click this link to Support SuSu and TOP: http://www.15in15.com/
From the time she was young, SuSu (a nickname for Susan) Jennings was always on the edge of being overweight. As long as she was active she could maintain her weight, but she still was constantly on a diet. After she got married, she wasn’t as active and she began to gain weight. To complicate matters, she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism after the birth of her daughter. Even though medication stabilized her thyroid hormone levels, she didn’t feel right after that.
Raising a young child and a two-hour round trip to work each day left SuSu little time or energy to exercise, so she continued to gain weight. In addition to the lack of exercise, she used food to fight her constant fatigue and stress, which made her gain weight even faster.
For over 12 years, SuSu tried dozens of diets and spent thousands of dollars on special meals and supplements. With each new diet, she would lose 30 or 40 pounds and then hit a plateau where she would stay for months. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break through that wall. Eventually, she would get frustrated and quit, quickly regaining her lost pounds and then some. As her weight struggle continued, SuSu’s health deteriorated. She began snoring at night and would wake up with her heart racing. By May, 2007 her weight had ballooned to 274 pounds.
SuSu knew she had to do something, so she kept trying. As she continued to research ways to lose weight she read about a connection between gluten sensitivity and hypothyroidism. So she gave up wheat and other gluten laden products for one week as an experiment. After only three days, she stopped snoring and in only one week, she had lost 10 pounds. Feeling hopeful, she joined Weight Watchers to have the accountability she needed and to help her deal with her other issues with food.
SuSu’s next challenge was exercise. She began walking on the mountain roads near her home, but she felt uncomfortable. Finally, after some rude comments from some people in a passing car, her husband suggested that she start hiking the section of the Appalachian Trail near her home. This section of the trail is called “The Roller Coaster” a string of 300 – 600 foot ascents and descents over 11 miles of the trail. The first day, she hiked a half mile path to get to the trail and made it about ¼ of the way up the first hill.
Over time, SuSu’s hikes became longer, and she began walking a two-mile loop in a park in Berryville while her daughter was in dance class. While she was in the park, she saw other people running. One of the runners was an older woman who wasn’t very fast, but she was running every time SuSu went to the park. Finally, one day, SuSu thought, “If she can run, why
can’t I?” By this point she had lost about 75 pounds, so she started running. At first she jogged a few feet at a time and gradually increased her distance until she could run the whole loop. As her confidence grew, she began running the trails.
In August, 2008, just 15 months after she began her weight loss journey, SuSu reached her goal weight of 135 pounds. One month later, she ran in her first race. It was a half-marathon trail race (13.1 miles). In 2009 she met her goal of running in at least 7 ultramarathon races. She traveled around the mid-atlantic region and ran in races ranging from 50K (31 miles) to 50 miles with a number of shorter races and the Marine Corps Marathon thrown in for good measure.
After 2009, she set her sights on her most demanding run, the Umstead 100 mile race in March, 2010. She spent the winter conditioning for the race, often running in snow and ice. One day she ran over 16 miles from her home to the starting line of a 5K race, ran the race and ran back home. By the time the race began she was as prepared as she could be. She finished the race in 26 hours, 31 minutes. The photo above is SuSu at the end of the Umstead 100.
And now, SuSu is taking on her greatest running challenge yet. An astonishing 15 marathons in 15 days to raise support for Teens Opposing Poverty from August 17 - 31, 2010. The challenge is only part of her reason for running. Like many others over the year, SuSu's involvement with TOP changed her life.
SuSu will be speaking at churches along her route. To hear her full story live and in person check out our Schedule by ckicking on this link: http://tinyurl.com/15in15Schedule or visit TOP's homepage http://www.teensopposingpoverty.org. We will be adding details and speaking dates, so be sure to check back often. You can then click each day of her running schedule to see where she will be.
You can support SuSu on her run and help TOP continue to challenge youth and meet the needs of the poor by supporting her on her run. Just click the following link: http://www.15in15.com/.
