Unapologetically.
Meet our new teammate Gabi!
Deciding not to run in college didn’t feel like a conscious choice—I loved running track in high school, but I thought I’d be satisfied to hang up the spikes at the end of my senior track season and never look back. Whether or not I recognized it as a major turning point at the time, that moment was when running became a hobby. I relegated this sport to the backseat; I couldn’t let it cloud my academic goals. It was just a way for me to release some stress when class got out at 5pm so that I could focus for 5 more hours of studying. It was a way to sneak in some social time while still being “productive” or wake myself up in the morning to maximize my focus on a 9am exam. It was never the main event.
During college, I ran a few half marathons and club cross-country races for fun, but without a proper training cycle, the stakes were low. That meant these races were always a ton of fun but never entirely satisfying—low-risk, low reward. Finally, during my senior year of college, I decided to train for a marathon. I had watched the Boston Marathon every year while I was a student at Harvard, each time becoming more certain that someday I needed to do it myself.
That first marathon—the 2018 Providence Marathon—was another turning point. The training cycle and the race itself reminded me of everything I’d been missing when I decided running was a hobby. I missed pushing myself hard enough to drive out every thought and sensation except for one singular goal. I missed the team bond that materializes and solidifies each time you really go to the well in a workout—together—and come back stronger. I missed competing unapologetically.
Fast forward to February 2020.
With three marathons and a half-year of medical school now under my belt, I was gearing up for my second Boston Marathon. I was faster than ever and feeling ready to really compete. I wasn’t training as part of any official team, but I had found a network of fast and inspiring friends in the Triangle, including the RDP ladies. I had just returned from spectating in Atlanta, where I watched friends and training partners compete in the Olympic Marathon Trials, and suddenly the upper limit of my personal goals looked like it might be getting ready to shatter.
Then the world threw a curveball, and we were all left to reconsider what exactly drives us. If a goal is a dream with a deadline, then I guess the reverse is also true: a goal with no deadline is a dream. With no races, no deadlines, and no end in sight, COVID-19 took all my goals and made them little more than dreams.
And it turns out that was okay. It just made me dream bigger.
Of course I needed a little more than just faith, trust, and pixie dust. So I drew inspiration from my RDP friends who were continuing to dream and train for life. At their suggestion, I started working with Coach Stephen Furst. With each 6am workout, a bond materialized and solidified, drawing me closer to these incredible training buddies and propelling me toward dreams a younger Gabi would never have dared lay eyes on.
And now today.
Running still isn’t the main event, but it’s more than just a hobby. As a second-year medical student at Duke working toward my MD-PhD, school remains my top priority, yet something has shifted. I know now that I can be a tenacious competitor on the track or the road and I can be tenacious about my career. I can fight for my teammates and I can fight for my patients. I can dream big dreams, set crazy goals, and I can say them out loud. I’m finally ready to train and compete unapologetically. And I’m just getting started.
Head up, wings out.
By: Gabi Sejourne