Kate

Oh heeeeeey! I am here because of Instagram and my daughter Aubrey. What?! It’s true. My first child, Aubrey, was born in Sept. of 2011, and we learned at 2 days old she had a congenital heart defect and needed surgery to fix it. Fast forward 3 months, surgery is completed, and we learn in the process she also has 22q11.2 Deletion syndrome. Fast forward again to 2015, when I apparently used some hashtags in the ‘gram including #22q and #running, and somehow, Katie Chiet discovered me. We quickly became good friends, and when she contacted me with the crazy idea of running a Ragnar to raise money for 22q, it was a no-brainer to instantly say, “In.” I started running in 2014 after the birth of my second daughter, once I realized that I couldn’t get away from these kids even in the bathroom. So running became my “me time” and escape. I couldn’t run a mile, but with a few months of dedicated training, I did that first 5k, then half marathon, and the rest is…you know. Here we are, a few years later, and I’m proud to have been by Katie’s side through all these Ragnars. And yes, I have the team tattoo on my calf.