A Lifetime of Fitness

When Melissa Currence’s father gave his sixteen year old daughter a 10-speed bicycle he had no idea that he was setting her on the path of lifetime fitness.

“I rode that thing to death- dreaming even then of being a racer.” Melissa said.

Racing didn’t officially enter the picture though for a few more years.  After spending her teenage years cycling for hours and hours Melissa found herself at college without her bike.  In an effort to maintain the fitness she had gained through cycling she began walking, followed shortly by the latest craze in the seventies – jogging, and eventually, after getting married and having children, she entered her first road race.

“My dentist's wife invited me to the Lady Equitable 10k in Baltimore.” Melissa said. “It was a women's only race out to Fort McHenry and I was hooked!”

It didn’t take long for Melissa to find the Annapolis Striders and set her sights on the Annapolis 10-Miler and eventually the Marine Corp Marathon. Since running her first marathon in 1997, she has completed a total of seventeen, including the much coveted Boston Marathon in 2003 after qualifying for the race at Richmond.

Having found such joy in the sport, Melissa has committed to giving back.  Saying she is an active volunteer in the Annapolis Striders is a true understatement.  Over the years, she has directed the Bay Bridge Race, the Metric Marathon and is currently the membership director for the club.  There is seldom an event where Melissa can’t be found helping at the registration table, handing out food, or generally helping her fellow racers on race morning.

While other runners will avoid the race environment while they are injured, Melissa keeps on giving.  Over the past couple of years she has fought several major injuries and she is not able to run right now, she is still at each and every Striders event supporting the club and its members.

Melissa is optimistic about returning to racing. 

“I've repeated this cycle countless times: run, get injured, recover, run again.” Melissa said, “Why would the cycle change now?”

While she is waiting, she has found a new way to challenge herself.  She has taken up swimming.  Swimming was a huge step for Melissa who had to face a fear of the water before even attempting to learn a stroke. 

“My first trip to the pool, in 2007, was simply to look at the water.  That was all I could muster,” Melissa said, “But I took Psyche 101-- I knew I could make myself get in...baby steps.  I did eventually get in the shallow end.  I dog paddled toward the deep end and totally freaked out when I saw the bottom drop out below me. The entire first year of swimming was simply getting over the fear.”

Since that first year, she has grown leaps and bounds.  Shelly Beigel, director of aquatics at Big Vanilla says that Melissa is one of the biggest success stories she has ever seen. 

“The difference has been amazing,” Beigel said, “She came in afraid of the water and is now part of our Masters Swimming Program.”

Melissa thinks the real secret to her success in the pool came from a fractured pelvis that finally forced her into water aerobics.  Because she had to wear a flotation device in order to stay upright in the deep end of the pool she became more comfortable with the water and the fear slowly subsided.

This perseverance and the tenacity that she has shown through her recovery, is part of what makes her a great runner.  Melissa is willing to adapt.  Because she loves running, she is willing to step back when she is injured.  Because she is willing move on to cycling, swimming or water aerobics instead of pushing through and finding herself even more injured and out of the sport for good she is able to stay fit instead of having to come back to running at step one.

Melissa admits there may come a time when running is no longer possible. But with over thirty years of fitness habits built into her life she doesn’t see leaving an active lifestyle.

“I'll never stop moving.  I need to be in the outdoors- observing nature- watching the seasons change as I jog or cycle past.  That grounds me and keeps me aware of my own existence in His Plan.”

The 10-speed Melissa’s father gave her when she was 16 is long gone but the habits that bicycle helped her developed have lasted a lifetime.