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Less than a year ago, when Candice Huffine and her husband, Matt Powers, were talking over a meal in Spain, he challenged her to complete the New York City Half Marathon with him.
This wasn’t the first time the couple had had this type of discussion. Powers often encouraged Huffine to run with him, but she just felt the sport wasn’t her cup of tea. She liked to consider herself “a very fast walker with an occasional trot.”
Still, Powers encouraged Huffine to join him – in spite of her excuses of being busy, having work, or needing to travel.
When time came and Powers began to train for the New York City Half Marathon, Huffine suddenly found herself setting the same objective for herself. She refused to let intimidation get the best of her and vowed to complete the race alongside her husband.
Huffine, given her lack of experience running, worked with a coach who pushed her from walking a few miles at a slow pace each day to running four times a week.
“I went from nothing. I was very slow and would walk occasionally,” Huffine remembered of her experience.
But even though her running was far less triumphant than her husband’s, Huffine found herself feeling “good” and inspired when she completed a race. “I guess that’s the runner’s high!”
Ever since then, Huffine has never gone anywhere without her running shoes in tow. To her, it’s one of the “best ways to explore the city” she’s in, and it makes her feel well – both mentally and physically.
Now, when Huffine is asked what she thinks of her runner’s body, she realizes how untrue her previously held beliefs were.
“When it came to doing the half marathon, people immediately thought that I was trying to change my body—that I no longer wanted to be a curvy woman,” she explained.
But wasn’t true at all.
Huffine loves her body, and she loves the running community for being so welcoming of her when she was so fresh to the sport.
“We all start somewhere,” Huffine said. “There are hard days. I still have my struggles. I’m not perfect. I’m not fast. But I need running to show other women what they can do for themselves, what it can look like and how they can feel.”
