Who could ever forget the 2019 Marine Corp Marathon? In a deluge of rain collecting in the gutters, potholes and at the base of each hill, KPF teams splashed through Washington, DC in ponchos and soaked running shoes, skidding on slick wheels. It was a struggle – to say the least – for everyone there and it was the first 26.2 running race push-assist athlete Jess Wilson had ever done.
A triathlete just starting out, Wilson had been training with KPF’s own Shawna Gray, had interest piqued by a social media post.
“Shawna has always been very supportive of me,” Jess says. “I'm no Brent or Chris Nasser or Chris Johnson. I'm not super strong and I don't make it on podiums so I wasn't sure it was even something that I could physically do.”
Wilson may not consider herself “super”, but she is determined and has done several triathlons with Shawna supporting her throughout her athletic career, giving Jess pointers on her open-water swim.
“She was the person beside me, cheering me on, encouraging me and assuring me that I could do it.”
Wilson primarily trains and races for the social aspect of it. She tried the typical training routine, coach and all. But she preferred running and cycling with friends over keeping up with rigid training plans formulated by personal trainers.
“The triathlon team (prior to KPF) that I was part of at the time wasn’t filling that social aspect I was looking for.”
Valuing performance over fun, the team-in-training group wasn’t for Jess, who was pining for something more socially fulfilling. Growing to like the concept of racing and sharing experiences with someone – the way Brent and Kyle do, volunteering for KPF quenched Jesse’s social thirst. It motivated her to train for races.
“I’m not going to hire a coach or stick to training plans with the goal of getting on the podium,” Wilson states.” “I run and bike because I enjoy it, and I enjoy doing it with friends.”
Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Wilson moved to the Atlanta area in 2008 and has lived all over town, presently residing in Woodstock, with boyfriend Gary Whitehead-Nudd, who also volunteers for KPF as a push-assist athlete. Sometimes vacationing to Chattanooga, Wilson spends free time in nature running, hiking, mountain biking and camping, and works as an accountant for an advertising agency based in Atlanta.
Two months before the Marine Corp Marathon, Jesse jumped into the Lekotek 5k, which took place on relentlessly undulating hills in Sandy Springs – in humid Georgia heat. Unfamiliar with the course and partnered with another volunteer runner whose knowledge of the tricky roads was less than Jess’s, somewhere along the way, they took a wrong turn and did extra miles before looping back onto the course.
“We crossed the finish line and I thought to myself, ‘I have never done something so difficult in my life! How am I going to do that for 26 miles?’”
However, with a tremendous amount of crowd support and motivation throughout The Marine Corp Marathon, and a pair of dry socks to replace soaking wet ones, Jess was determined to finish.
“I wanted to make sure Aidan had the best time.” Wilson and her push-assist partner took turns singing Aidan’s favorite songs when his speaker died. Motivated by a bracelet she had purchased at the race expo with the saying, It may be hard but it’s worth it, Jess and her partner pressed on, pushing up the last hill, cheering for Aidan.
“I bawled like a baby,” she remembers. “Like full-on ugly cry!”
They weren’t tears of sadness or grief, but tears of victory in achieving a goal.