Larisa Ballard’s life had been turned upside down a few years ago when faced with a devastating divorce. Looking in the mirror, she hardly recognized the person she had become. That’s when she decided to take the first step toward self-discovery.
Only, at the time, she didn’t realize the kind of journey she was about to take.
“I decided to go out for a run,” Ballard recalls. “It was the hardest mile I’ve ever run … it felt like it took forever. The steps hurt and I wanted to stop. My heart and my head kept fighting with my body. I listened to my heart and my head. I finished that mile and made a promise that I was going to go out again and get better.”
Ballard hadn’t been physically active in a number of years. Something, she said her former husband wouldn’t allow. Now on her own, she knew it was time to make herself happy — mentally as well as physically.
“Physical fitness brings a lot to a person’s life,” Ballard said. “For me, it brought my life back.”
She began running every day, determined to be a better role model for her two boys. She found people within her community that shared her passion for running, eventually helping found The PVille Pacers with friends Aric Prudden and Craig Morehouse. Ballard discovered a newfound confidence and began challenging herself through running.
Her first test was a 5K.
“My first 5K race was nowhere near something to celebrate – but I finished it,” she said. “I’ve never looked back.”
Since she has run several 5K and 10K races and most recently completed her second marathon. A marathon may be the ultimate test for a runner and Ballard found out why after taking on the challenge for the first time.
Around the 20-mile mark, she hit a “wall.” One of her iliotibial (IT) bands (ligament that runs along the outside of the thigh from the hip to the shin) had locked up around mile 11. She pushed through it for six miles until her other IT band did the same.
“I found myself talking to myself, and more times than not, I was yelling at myself to work through the pain,” she recalls. “Ultimately, when I hit that wall, I was crying and felt as though I was a failure.”
But, she had reached this point in her life by being strong, by being determined. She found the strength to finish the marathon. The second time around, she was much more prepared.
“Running a marathon is more than a physical feat — it’s a mental feat as well,” Ballard said. “You train physically by running all of those miles, but it’s the mental training which can be just as hard.”
All of the training paid off in October, when Ballard finished the Chicago Marathon by shaving 22 minutes off her previous time.
“I am such a better person now for making running and fitness a part of my life,” Ballard said. “My life changed just from making that change in my life.”
She now shares her passion with others as well, teaching fitness classes at the Westside YMCA, Potterville’s Fit 4 Life Club, and Grand Ledge’s Mo’s Sweat Shop.
“Being able to be out there running and even teaching my classes drives me,” she said. “When I am able to inspire someone else to be physically active, that’s where my passion soars. Through my running and fitness classes, I have helped inspire many to make new goals for themselves. Just this fall, eight of my fitness class clients ran their first race – the Capital City River Run Half Marathon.”
This journey, which has taken shape over the last five or six years, has led a real sense of self.
“I have learned that I am not that person I once thought I was,” Ballard said. “I am someone who is worth something. I have gained my confidence back and have found such a passion in running and fitness. I have found what real friendships are.”
