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Serene running with Gale Fischer.
BODY, MIND AND SOUL:
BY GALE FISCHER
The Health Trifecta for
Serene
At its most basic level, running can provide participants with a multitude of physical benefits. These rewards are well documented with scientific research.
For those who are passionate about the sport, there is so much more to running than a strong heart and healthy lungs. Those who understand these secondary bi-products of our sport are well aware of how a daily run can improve and maintain brain function, stimulating one’s ability to think, learn, and reflect. Another element of running that is not lost on its partici- pants is how it can calm and bring clarity to the human soul. Many have experi- enced how running can turn stress into peace and sadness into happiness. Run- ning has been an integral part of Serene Griffin’s life for more than three decades. It has blessed her with numerous acco- lades and positive life experiences but at the end of the day the most important thing that running has given to her is a healthy body, mind, and soul. Running has been a constant presence that has sustained her life with balance to navigate through the setbacks she has faced.
Serene decided to give running a try when other school sports just were not working out. “I loved it because I liked being outdoors. I quickly learned that run- ning provided time to think about things
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and solve problems. I have felt this way all of these years.”
Initially Serene had no aspirations
of excelling as a runner but this would change. “When I ran the district meet my freshman year I finished ahead of girls that I had heard of as having reputations as top notch runners. After that first dis- trict meet it finally hit me that running was something I was good at.”
As Serene entered her senior year of high school colleges began recruiting her. She eventually chose to attend the Naval Academy where she ran cross-country and track. Serene would require knee surgery prior to her junior year and just like that her days as a competitive stu- dent athlete were done.
After finishing up her stint at the Naval Academy and marrying her first husband John, Serene stopped running. “I realized after a few years that I missed running.
I needed it in my life again so I started back. I wasn’t competitive but would run a few miles at a time a few times a week. I continued to run.”
John and Serene would be blessed with two boys, Joshua being born in 1994 and Matthew in 1996. A major milestone in Serene’s running would occur four years after Matthew was born. “We moved to Hawaii in 1998. I had
started running with another girl on base. We decided to sign up for the Honolulu Marathon on a whim. I ran my first mara- thon, the Honolulu Marathon in 2000 with a finishing time of 3:45.”
John retired from the Navy in 2001 and their family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan with both John and Serene taking jobs at Stryker. “Some of my co-workers at Stryker had talked about running the Chicago Marathon. It piqued my interest so I decided to sign up for the Detroit Marathon in 2005. My perfor- mance in Detroit was much better than Honolulu with a finishing time of 3:12.”
Serene’s finishing time in Detroit brought with it a Boston Marathon qualifying time. “While I was running the Detroit Marathon I heard other runners talking about Boston. I had no idea at that time about the prestige of the Boston Marathon. I went home and researched it and realized how big of a deal it was. My time in Detroit was a qualifying time so I signed up for Boston and ran it in 2006. My time was 3:10.”
Serene had another epiphany after running the Boston Marathon. “I realized that I had run a marathon in three differ- ent states and thought it would be cool to run a marathon in each state. I was able to check off my final state in 2015 with