After She Escaped Her Strict Religious Community, There Was No Turning Back

Running helped her build a new life [ view in [browser](. add runnersworld@newsletter.runnersworld.com to your address book ] [RunnersWorld.com]( FOLLOW US [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [You Tube]( [After She Escaped Her Strict Religious Community, There Was No Turning Back]( It's race day, and it's freezing. Connie doesn't have gloves or a hat. She wears black yoga pants and a cotton sweatshirt. On her feet are a pair of bulky five-year-old white Nikes she bought at a Foot Locker. The crowd around her buzzes with strange talk of Garmins, and racing flats, and PRs, whatever those are. At the gun, her friend says: "Just run. Just follow the people." It's 2013, and Connie is 24. When her friend suggested a few weeks prior that she register for the Valentine’s Day 5K in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, she’d asked: "What's a 5K?" "It's just a loop of the park," he said. How should she prepare, Connie wanted to know. "Just run on the treadmill," he said. She figured, How hard could it be? But now she is following the people, a big, swarming crowd of people. And when they get to a hill, the people keep going and Connie stops. I can't do it, she thinks. Running outside, let alone among hundreds of other runners on a frigid Saturday morning, is new to Connie. For years, she had to hide her workouts from her husband and family. The hill before her is steep, but not nearly as steep as the one she has already climbed just to reach the starting line. [READ ON]( [RunnersWorld.com]( [Be Careful How You Interpret That Recent Viral Mask Study]( Researchers from Duke University tested 14 different masks, so are some types really better than others? [Read On]( [RunnersWorld.com]( [Joshua Cheptegei Smashes the 5,000-Meter World Record]( The world record stood for 16 (!) years. [Read On]( [RunnersWorld.com]( [This 75-Year-Old Runner Just Broke Six Minutes in the Mile]( Lynn Rathjen of Grand Island now holds the American age-group record in the mile. [Read On]( [RunnersWorld.com]( [This Pro’s Quick But Effective Glute Activation Drill Takes Just 2 Minutes to Do]( Kaitlin Goodman swears by doing these two moves before every run to prevent injury. [Read On]( [RunnersWorld.com]( [Coffee or Beer? Speedwork or Mileage? All the Ways to Be Your Own True Runner]( Compare yourself with others in our polls to see where you stand among other runners! [Read On]( [runnersworld.com]( ©2020 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019 [Unsubscribe]( [Privacy Notice](