2014 Princeton Runner Profiles
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Isao Anzai 2017, New York City Past Races: None What is the most interesting place that you have run? I love to run in Central Park back home, but by far the greatest place I've ever run is in the Rift Valley of Kenya alongside Olympic caliber athletes in Iten, Kenya. How did you get started running? |
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Joe Benun 2015, Jersey Shore Past Races: First time! |
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Harrison Blackman 2017, North Potomac, MD Past Races: First time! What is the most interesting place that you have run? In Madison, Wisconsin, there is this trail that has a proportional model of the solar system, so Earth and Mars are about 400 meters from each other, but it's several miles between Jupiter and Saturn, and Pluto's like 7 miles away from Neptune. It really gives interesting checkpoints during a long run. |
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Randi Brown 2014, Grand Rapids Past Races: Island School Half Marathon (Cape Eleuthera) What is the most beautiful place that you have run? Railway Trail on Bermuda What is your favorite time of day to run? |
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Katherine Clifton 2015, Honolulu, Hawaii Past Races: First time! What is the most beautiful place that you have run? I'm from the Aloha State of Hawaii, so it's never too cold to run and whether you're on a mountain or by the beach, it's bound to be breathtaking. My mom (my main running bud) and I once ran around Mauna Loa, an active volcano! |
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Vladimir Costescu 2014, Arlington, Virginia Past Races: The only official half I have ever run was the Princeton Half Marathon this past fall (November 2013). What is your favorite thing about running? My favorite thing about running is that it is intensely personal. I like to run in solitude, either with or without music (depending on what strikes my fancy), and I've found that getting lost in my thoughts and zoning out is quite an enjoyable and cathartic feeling (at least when it's not oppressively hot or cold outside). How did you get started running? |
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Charlie Fortin 2015, Atlanta Past Races: NYC Half 2012, Unite Half 2012, Unite Half 2013, Princeton Half 2013 How did you get started running? I started running during my senior year of high school. My two friends and I would go do a few laps on the track before school every morning, and after a few weeks, I was hooked! |
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Thomas Ray Garcia 2016, Pharr, TX Past Races: Unite Half Marathon 2013, Princeton Half Marathon 2013 How did you get started running? In the 8th grade, I started running a mile a day in P.E. class. It felt good to have some time each day to run. What is your favorite thing about running? |
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Katie Glockner 2016, Encinitas, CA Past Races: Princeton Half Marathon, Surf City Marathon, Philadelphia Marathon What is the most beautiful place that you have run? I went on an 8 mile run along the shores and to the top of O'ahu's Diamond Head Summit. It was unbelievably beautiful! |
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Sneha Goswami 2015, Holland, MI Past Races: Somerset Stampede Half Marathon, Unite Half Marathon, Princeton Half Marathon What is the most beautiful place that you have run? I love running along Lake Michigan! |
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Helena Hengelbrok 2016, Berlin, Germany Past Races: You know it! This is my third with Team U. I did the Rutgers Unite in April 2013, and the Princeton Half in November 2013. What is your funniest running story? I spent nine months living in Peru before college, and I loved to go running by the mountains along the fields that surrounded my town. However, many of the farmers used those fields to put their cattle out to pasture, which meant that encounters with bulls were far from rare. Once during the rainy season, I went running along a thin path in between two flooded fields. Halfway through my run, I realized too late that 5 bulls had been set out to pasture along that very path. Anxious to continue, I decided to attempt to edge around the bulls, choosing with each one which was less of a risk- the horns or the hind legs. However, In between bull #2 and bull #3, I realized there was no way I was going to be able to pass the third bull. To forge forward or to turn back? An angry snort from the bull in question made my decision a quick one, and I turned around the way I came before things got ugly. Lesson learned! |
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Aileen Huang 2017, Herndon, VA Past Races: First time! What is the most beautiful place that you have run? Corolla Beach in the Outer Banks, NC. |
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Christopher Huie 2016, Hong Kong Past Races: First time! What is the most beautiful place that you have run? Tai Tam Country Park - a beautiful reservoir very close to where I live. Awesome views and bridges make for a great run! |
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Sylvia Jacobson 2017, Bethesda, MD Past Races: First time! How did you get started running? I played tag every single day during recess in Elementary school but the first time I purposefully set out to go on a run was when I was 14 the day after my first all-nighter (last night of sleep-away camp). I came home very sleep-deprived and just suddenly realized that I really wanted to go on a run. I've been running casually on my own ever since. |
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Shefali Jain 2017, Parsippany, NJ Past Races: First time! What is your favorite thing about running? When you've run so much that you can't really feel your legs anymore and it becomes an entirely automatic motion. What is your favorite time of day to run? |
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Cat Ku 2014, West Orange, NJ Past Races: 2011 Newport Liberty Half, 2013 Nike Women's Half, 2013 Philadelphia Marathon What is the most interesting place that you have run? My most inspirational run was on West Sands Beach in St Andrews, Scotland at dawn. It's where Chariots of Fire was filmed, and I had the theme song playing in my head the whole time! |
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Janie Lee 2015, Walnut, California Past Races: Rutgers Unite Half Marathon 2013 What is the most beautiful place that you have run? The most beautiful place that I've run was along a boardwalk in Maui this past winter break. What is your favorite time of day to run? |
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Hema Lochan 2016, New York City Past Races: I've done the Central Park half marathon! What is your favorite part of running? A lot of people say that life is a marathon, not a sprint, and I don't think I fully understood what they meant until I actually ran a (half)marathon. Just like in life, you have to pace yourself or else you'll burn out. You'll reach a point on an uphill where you just want to give up, but in the back of your mind you know that this uphill won't last forever. And the best thing is that, just like life, you'll meet AMAZING people along the way :) |
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Macy Manning 2016, Fayetteville, AR Past Races: First time! How did you get started running? My junior high boyfriend's dad was the track coach, and he convinced me to come out to try it. I fell in love with track then and still love to run now. What is the most beautiful place that you have run? |
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Shannon McGue 2015, Charleston, SC Past Races: I've done two with Team U, and three more with friends/family! What is the most beautiful place that you have run? Running on the beach still gets me every time. It can be awful sometimes, when the curve of the beach makes you think you're always two feet away from your destination but you're actually two miles. But then there are those perfect runs where the horizon is curved and endless, the water seems to wink at you encouragingly, it feels like you could run forever, and you just can't beat that. |
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Hannah Miller 2016, Oswego, IL Past Races: Chicago Half Marathon, July 2012, Fake Princeton Half Marathon, November 2012 :), Unite Half Marathon, April 2013. Princeton Half Marathon, November 2013 |
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Jake Miller 2015, Oswego, IL Past Races: Unite Half '12, '13, Chicago Half '12, Princeton Half fake '12, real '13" How did you get started running? My parents met while running...I fought it until high school, but running has always been my fate! What is the most beautiful place that you have run? |
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Sarah Morgan 2015, Princeton Past Races: First time! How did you get started running? My parents are really into running, so eventually family walks turned into going for runs with mom or dad! What is your favorite time of day to run? |
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Charlotte Muller 2015, Atlanta, GA Past Races: I've run a bunch of 5Ks, but never anything more than that! What is your funniest running story? It's not really a funny story, but I once ran a 5K when I had mono. They misdiagnosed me and didn't catch that I had mono, so they just thought I had an infection. My mom thought that I was just being lazy when I wasn't feeling any better, and convinced me to this 5K with her. It took me 40 minutes and I almost passed out. Afterwards, I threw up and they had to take me to the doctor. |
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Rachel Parks 2015, Hamilton, NY Past Races: First time! |
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Elizabeth Paul 2015, Portland, OR Past Races: I ran the Unite in 2012 and 2013 and the Princeton Half in 2013 with Team U. I also ran the Midnight Sun Half in Tromsø, Norway in 2012, which was probably one of the most awesome racing experiences! The course loops around a small island in the arctic circle and includes beautiful view of the fjords. What is the most beautiful place that you have run? I worked in Oslo the summer after my freshman year, and the student housing complex where I lived was about half a mile from Sognsvann Lake and connected to a beautiful system of hiking trails. I would run around the lake almost every night and sometimes took a dip in the water if it was warm enough. |
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Daniela Raffel 2016, London, UK Past Races: First time! How did you get started running? I didn't really have a choice, my PE teacher signed me up for a cross country race and told me the day before that I was doing it! |
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Emery Real Bird 2017, Hondah, Arizona Past Races: I have done one half marathon! What is your favorite running story? Once I was running in the forest once and I was doing well with all of the branches and forest things, but I ran into a huge puddle of water covered by leaves that looked like land and sunk two feet into muddy mess. I got out of the forest twenty minutes later to the snickers of the old lady walking her dog. |
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Suzie Shoffner 2015, State College Past Races: New Jersey Half Marathon (Long Branch), Philadelphia Half Marathon, Princeton Half Marathon, Stadtlauf Berlin Halb/Viertelmarathon What is your funniest running story? I've been known to often get lost on runs... And sometimes on race courses. My sister and I once took a wrong turn on a poorly marked 10 mile race and got disqualified for taking a "longcut." What is the most interesting place that you have run? |
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Gina Sun 2015, Memphis, TN Past Races: Princeton Half Marathon |
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Hannah Swenson 2016, Yorktown Past Races: Rutgers in April will be my first half marathon! |
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Margaret Wang 2014, Irvine, CA Past Races: New York City Half, Unite Half, going to do Nike Women's Half in DC two weeks after this Unite :) |