Welcome to my blog, She Writes & Runs.

I created the concept and template for this blog back in 2011 as part of a college course. I’ve rebranded and renamed a few times and I’ve finally settled on She Writes & Runs.  

I’m a writer by day and a runner, triathlete and general fitness lover by night, early morning and everything in between.

I’ve been an athlete my entire life and have always loved to be active. I know myself really well and am crazy committed to fitness. It’s a huge part of my life and who I am – just ask my husband! I also love to write and knew it would eventually be what I did for a living.

I’ve always been a dreamer, go-getter and goal chaser. And I love creating content and telling stories.

She Writes & Runs are all of my worlds combined.

A fire within

I grew up chasing my two older brothers around, trying to prove I was tough and that I was “one of the boys.” I remember getting off the bus in grade school and going for a quick run around our block. It probably wasn’t even half a mile, but I can still remember how great it made me feel. I liked knowing that I was being productive and I loved the feeling of pushing myself through a struggle.

I also grew up listening to my dad get up at 4 a.m. most days to go teach class at our local gym. He was a personal trainer and fitness instructor for 20 years. I think this is part of the reason why I’ve been dubbed insane by my crazy early workouts – I grew up with the assumption that it was totally normal and just what you did!

Fitness and being active has always been a focal point of my life. It has been my central fire of what keeps me sane (and nice). My mom jokes that as a child “sports saved me” because I had a bad temper and couldn’t express my feelings very well. She said that sports gave me an outlet to work out my emotions and they saw a big change in my behavior after that. I still think it’s true to this day and why running and fitness is so engrained into my lifestyle. It’s never a matter of if I’m going to workout, it’s when and how I’m going to make it work.

Journey into endurance sports

After high school I started running regularly because it still made me feel like an athlete and I was desperately missing the familiarity of organized sports. I remember the first time I ran four miles straight one afternoon in college and felt invincible.

I knew I was onto something at that point. I was hungry and I wanted more.

Slowly I began to do 5Ks, then 10Ks and then finally I conquered my first half marathon. From there I only became more competitive. I wanted to push myself and I loved getting lost in the struggles and triumphs of a training plan. In 2013 I ran my first full marathon and since then have ran four more.

In 2014 I began to venture into the world of triathlon. I competed in dozens of sprint and Olympic distance races at first, but ultimately I knew what the bigger picture was – I had my eye on Ironman.

Read more about my journey to Ironman.

The Blog

My blog is my outlet for life. Although I have not competed in long course triathlon since 2018 (hi, pandemic and having a baby!), I’m still “training for life” five to six days a week.

These are my stories from long solo runs, to high intensity workouts, to juggling fitness with a baby, to traveling adventures and more. It’s tales from marathons, my faith, my work, life with my husband and being the best version of myself.

The only constant thing in life is change – but I know two things that will always remain for me:

I will always write and I will always run.

Hope you enjoy my blog!

Cassandra