This month we feature Wendy as our Ridge Runner of the Month.
Wendy was born in Covina and her family moved to Glendora when she was 4. She and her husband settled in Chino and later in Lake Havasu only to return to Glendora a few years ago.
Wendy began running in February 2007, running laps around the Sandburg school track. When she began she could only run a little more than one lap, but built up gradually.
While camping in Sycamore Canyon in the summer of 2007, Wendy met Leon from the Glendora Ridge Runners. He invited her to run with the club, but she felt that a 13 mile run on a mountain trail would be too much. Wendy kept running and building her mileage and was ready to join the club in the Summer of 2008.
Wendy loves the “Special Event Runs” that the club does; she really likes to check out new trails and new places with the club members.
Wendy ran the Surf City Marathon, Sycamore Canyon 30k, the Bulldog 25k, the Santa Monica Mountain 30k and other trail events plus the San Dimas 5k in 2008. 2009 has started out well with the Calico Ghost Town 50k in January and plans are being made for the PCT 50 miler in May. Wendy has become a very adventurous runner, enjoying the beauty of the trails and the challenge of training for longer and longer distances. For the last two years she has volunteered at the Badwater Ultra marathon. She was amazed at the ultra runners pushing themselves to complete 135 miles. Even more surprising was that they seemed to be having the time of their lives! Badwater has had quite an influence on her running goals and has made her look towards endurance running as her future.
Whether it is an early club run or an organized running event, Wendy always tries to prepare by laying everything out the night before. She hates forgetting something and rushing around at the last moment. The evening before a race Wendy enjoys a satisfying pasta meal.
When Wendy and her husband have time they enjoy watching Motor-cross. Their dream vacation would be the trip of a life-time to Japan.
If Wendy could go to lunch with anyone, she would choose her dad. She lost him at the end of 2008, and she would love to spend time with him again and tell him about her running adventures.
Joining the Glendora Ridge Runners has been more fun that she ever could have anticipated and she is looking forward to many more miles and interesting trails with the club in the future.