Becky Wheeler is taking on the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, traveling all the way from the UK! We can’t wait for Becky to experience The Greatest Spectacle in Running on May 6! Check out her Why I Mini story below to learn more about Becky, her fitness journey, and her advice to other participants.
This is my first Indy Mini. I have driven down through Arizona back in 2006, but this is my first proper trip to the States.
A few years ago I joined a Facebook Running Group and got to know quite a few other members. We would comment on each other’s posts, it helped a lot at the time. I became great friends with one particular member and our friendship has grown over the years. I passed a comment one day about coming to visit him and the family and that is what has brought me to the States now. He loves to run too, has done numerous Half Marathons and 12 Full Marathons, he’s completed the Indy Mini several times too! For me to come from the UK, I didn’t want to stay for just a couple of weeks. I’ve needed a good long break for a long time and haven’t taken a holiday for a number of years, so decided to take a couple of months off and come to the States for 7 whole weeks. I’ve been here now for just over 2 weeks, so still have a long time to go.
I completed the Carmel Half Marathon last weekend and have signed-up for the Kentucky Half as well as the Indy Mini. All these races will be run with my best friend Ryan Rivera who I’m staying with and who has helped to totally transform my running!
As you can see from one of the photos, I used to be alot larger than what I am now. At 5’2″ and 196lb I knew I had to try and lose some weight. Over the following 9 months I lost over 60lbs and that is when my love of running started. I started off hardly being able to complete 200m, but I wasn’t going to give up on it so just kept going, increasing the distance as much as I could. I started going to the gym and loved that too and it helped alot. I took on my first race, a Half Marathon, about a year later, that was back in 2018 and I haven’t looked back since! I’ve got no idea how many Half Marathons I’ve completed but have also taken on 5 Full Marathons, the greatest of which was completed the London Marathon last year, it was one of the best days ever! Have attached a picture of that day too. Like alot of other runners, I’ve suffered injuries and setbacks, but the love of running will never stop and I will always try to do what I can. I’m not where I wanted to be for this trip, but nothing will stop me lining up on that Start Line in May!
Everyone’s running journeys are different, but I would always say set yourself achievable goals especially when you’re starting off, a goal you know you’ll be able to reach but something that will make you work, this will help with the motivation of wanting to achieve more, you’ll keep thing what you could actually achieve. You need to also set a long term goal, like your first race or hitting a certain time.