My Bio:

Born: August 29, 1976 in Salem, MA
Grew up in Topsfield, MA and Sanbornton, NH
Home: Nashua, NH
Occupation: Graduate Student, UNH Department of Kinesiology, Class of 2010
Personal: Engaged to Andy Cooper

Height: 4′11″ Weight 93lbs
Began Racing Bikes: 1999

Likes: Indian food, Guster, MightyMightyBossTones, NPR, Dansko clogs, Hybrid cars, sheep, water, Lewis Black, Acupuncture
Dislikes: pasta, SUVs, cold weather, NASCAR, WalMart, fast food, soda, alcohol, Fox News

My Bio - a more complete narrative

I sucked at sports when I was growing up. I think my first real sporting experience was when my mom signed me up for junior bowling league when I was 5 or 6. It was candlepin, but I could not properly palm the ball so I had to do the ‘between the legs’ method. I did get two trophies out of the deal, one for each year that I competed. I got one strike and one spare in my career. The strike was - well, quite by accident and it shock everyone that actually saw it. I don’t think my mom ever believed that I actually got one, but I really did. Honestly.

Let’s see, in 4th grade I played farm league base ball…they put me in right field because the ball never went out there. In middle school I tried field hockey and softball, and pretty much sucked at those too. I was actually more interested in acting in plays and singing in the select ensemble choir and playing the clarinet, but the cool kids did sports, and I succumbed to peer pressure. (hey, it could have been worse, at least I didn’t sleep around or do drugs).

In high school I again attempted field hockey in the fall, but switched to track in the spring. I signed up for the mile for the first track meet. I came in dead effing last, ran a time of like 8 and a half minutes…I hated every minute of it. I kept doing the mile, and eventually got my time down to like 7 minutes…maybe once I ran a 6:55. That was a nice summation of my first two years of high school track.

I got more interested in sports in high school but certainly never got any better at them. I got sick of the drama club and chorus and my senior year I tried out for the cheerleading team, mainly because I had gotten interested in gymnastics, but realized I was way too old for that. Well, I made the cheerleading team but I was not the smallest, so I did not get to do any neat stunts. I was ‘back spotter’, which meant I stood there and if anyone fell out of a stunt, they would land on me. Basically, I was expendable. I am somewhat ashamed to openly admit this on the internets, but cheerleading competitons were, well…kind of fun…we did win every one that we entered..maybe that was why I found them fun. I actually got to contribute to a team winning something.

College - I decided that since I totally sucked at sports and was probably never going to get any better at them, I would try something unique and obscure - so I joined the rugby club my freshman year. I lasted a season without an injury, but that was mainly because whenever I saw the ball, I ran the opposite way. Shortly after the rugby season ended I somehow got recruited to join the indoor track team. Apparently they only had like 5 runners after cross country season because a bunch of them got injured. One of the girls on the team knew my roomate and found out that I ran in highschool, so they asked me to join. I was game, and I stuck with it for the rest of college.

I discovered in college that apparently I didn’t totally suck. I was never a superstar and was never even a top runner on the team - 4th runner in XC was my best spot. But I really enjoyed the competition and the endurance and the training really grew on me. I lacked the discipline and drive to really push myself to my limit, but I had some decent times in my track events - if by decent one means 11:09 in the 3000m and a 5:15 1500m.

After I graduated I was starting to get more serious about running, but then I got injured. I had to stop running for 3 whole months. I started riding my bike then, and well, you know the rest.

Running PRs:
1 mile - 5:18
3k - 10:22
5k - 18:05
8k - 30:17
half marathon - 1:25:37
marathon - 3:07:27

Cycling Results Worth Mentioning:
2003 Fitchburg Longsjo Classic - 1st Road Race, Overall General Classification (Category 3)
2004 Mt. Washington Hill Climb - 2nd
2005 Mt. Washington Hill Climb - 2nd
2006 Fitchburg Longsjo Classic - 8th Road Race, 10th Overall General Classification (P-1-2)
2007 Fitchburg Longsjo Classic - Time Trial - 8th

Multisport
2005 Rye by the Sea Duathlon - 2nd
2007 Shamrock Duathlon - 1st
2007 West Kennebunk FD Duathlon - 1st
2008 Spring Fling Sprint Triathlon - 2nd
2008 Vermont Sun Sprint Triathlon - 2nd

Running:
2007 Reach The Beach Relay - 5th place overall team - Mine Falls Milers
2007 Union Leader 5mile Road Race - 2nd
2007 Portsmouth Children’s Home 5k - 2nd
2007 Cigna/Elliot Corporate 5k - 10th
2007 Manchester City Marathon - 1st