Terri Bower
How it started…
In 1984, working as an engineer at Chrysler Motor Company, Terri was introduced to the idea of road running by a couple colleagues—she had no idea people ran 10K’s let alone 26.2 miles for fun!!
The colleagues invited her to run after work around Bell Isle—eventually, she made it the six miles around without stopping! Although not yet committed to being a ‘runner’, after watching her new friends compete in the Detroit Marathon, she decided it was something she needed to try—sometime in the future.
The friends were to compete in the Marine Corps Marathon one month later and suggested, “If you can run six miles you can run 13, so come run half the marathon with us.” Young and naive, Terri thought this was a grand idea and set out to run 13 miles just to be sure she could. “Well, if you can run 13 miles” they said, “surely you can run a full marathon!”
The experience of running a marathon, especially with little training, was tough and out-of-body! Crying at the finish, Terri knew she was now a ‘runner’.
1984
- Started running to manage weight
- Several 10Ks in the Detroit Metro area
- Marine Corps Marathon
1985
- Many 10Ks, 2 ½ marathons, Crim 10 miler
- Boston Marathon (bandit), Philadelphia Marathon (met the qualifying time for Boston in all subsequent marathons*)
1986 – 2010 (while working on master’s and doctoral degrees and working)
- Many 10Ks, ½ marathons (1:30 PR twice), and a couple trail ½ marathons (Master winner), ten plus Crim
- Nine 3-day team trail races
- Boston 4 times, Philli 4 times, Detroit 6 times (3:17 PR twice), Marine Corps 3 times, Minneapolis
- Tried a couple Olympic-ish length triathlons (tried not to drown)
2010-present
- Detroit and Boston Marathon, Milwaukee Marathon with my Niece*
- Several 10Ks, ½ marathons and 5Ks
- Eight Ironmen
- Lots of Olympic and ½ Iron distance triathlons
- USAT Nationals Oly, Sprint and ½ Iron distances, Worlds Long Course (Denmark and Spain)
- * Managing injuries 😉
The Villages Running Club 