Growing up, many people dread running the mile in school. It was no different for math teacher Sarah Brown.

Up until 2020, Sarah said she thought of herself as someone who didn’t enjoy running. Since then, she has run four half-marathons and said she has set her eyes on running a full marathon.

“My husband has ran a bunch [of marathons], like five or six, and so he encouraged me,” Sarah said. “[He said] if you can run a half-marathon, you could probably run a marathon.”

She said she started more difficult training to transition from half-marathons to a full marathon. However, Sarah has been battling running with a pre-existing knee injury, taking away her plans to run a marathon soon.

“Even though I’m not doing [a marathon] this fall, as I had initially planned to, [the training is] just something that I’m going to continue doing to strengthen my body and rehab and get back to where I felt like I was before,” Sarah said.

Sarah was originally introduced to running by her husband, Ben Brown. Ben said he gifted Sarah with his old running watch to help her get started and has loved seeing her growth from not wanting to run a mile to running multiple half-marathons. The pair will occasionally run together so that Ben can practice being a race pacer.

“I’ve run two half marathons with her, so for those, it’s rewarding to me because I get to see the person that I love get to achieve a major milestone,” Ben said. “And the relief that comes with being across the finish line and all that training has led up to that moment.”

Sarah also runs with her sister-in-law Lindsey Hermanson. Hermanson said she originally ran in college, so it’s been fun to see Sarah start to enjoy a hobby of hers. She said she has loved seeing the competitive edge running brings out in Sarah.

“She’s just [become] a lot more confident and going from something she wanted to try out to something she really enjoys,” Hermanson said. “And it’s just really cool to see how it has brought a different fun activity for her to do with our family.”

Hermanson said she not only runs alongside Sarah during the races, but also goes to watch her; that’s her plan when Sarah runs her first marathon.

“I can see her run and enjoy that hobby,” Hermanson said. “Then I can also see firsthand her students not be afraid to come up and greet and cheer her on as well on the trail.”

Sarah has worked hard and continues to do so with her goals in running, which is seen and appreciated by her friends and family.

“Trying to find new goals and trying to do things that you don’t think that were possible to do is definitely something to try out,” Sarah said. “You might think that you can’t do something, and later on in life, you try to do it. And I think that you and your body are just so much more capable of things that you might not necessarily know.”