A little history......

As a Korean orphan with multiple disabilities, Asia began life with more than her share of challenges. Born with a bowel problem, Asia had surgery to create a colostomy when she was 13 days old. After spending most of her first 2 years shuttled between hospitals and orphanages, Asia was considered by the adoption agency to be too institutionalized to ever be able to bond with a family. However, a week before her 2nd. birthday, Asia joined my husband Jerry, our daughter Meghann, and I to become part of our family.

At 2 years of age, Asia couldn't roll from front to back, sit unsupported, crawl, stand or walk. She was nearly 28 months old when she learned to walk and almost immediately learned to run.

The years between 2 and 12 were a blur of misdiagnoses, surgeries, and failed treatments. She was eventually diagnosed as Autistically Impaired. Finally when she was 12 we began to find therapies which worked and she began to blossom.

When she was in middle school, we wanted to get her involved in a sports program. We approached the cross country coach and he agreed to have Asia in his program. The girls on the team were amazingly accepting and soon treated Asia like a younger sister.

By the time Asia entered high school she was on the "A" running squad and consistently earned points for her team. In 1996 she was selected to carry the Olympic Torch as it passed through Detroit. In her junior year the team won the Regional Championship and placed 12th at the State Cross Country meet.

Asia's coach encouraged the girls to run during the summer off season, and at the fall banquet gave awards to those who ran 500 miles, or a certain number of consecutive days. One year of consecutive days became 2, then 3, and on June 10, 2003 Asia completed 5 years of consecutive days of running.

Unlike some high school runners, who are done running as soon as they graduate, Asia continued to run every day, an average of 5 miles a day, and competed in local 5 and 10K races. She often finished in the top 5 in her age group.

In June 2006 we met Kathleen Gina after a race in Ann Arbor. Kathleen, or Coach Gina, is the head coach of the Running Fit 501 Marathon/Half Marathon Training Team. Her summer session still has openings and she invited us to the next practice to see if the team might be a fit for Asia. Coach Gina selected several runners with a pace similar to Asia's for the first run. After a short introduction and a group picture, they were off. Jerry and I raced to the 2 mile water stop, anxious to see how things were going. The comment we heard most was, "Boy, she's fast!"

We soon saw the huge, accepting spirit of the running community. Asia was embraced by the team as one of their own. They admired her dedication to running and her spirit. They began encouraging her to run the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon in October. Coach Gina arranged for a pace runner to make sure Asia made it safely across the Ambassador Bridge into Canada and back through the Windsor Tunnel to Detroit. We were at the finish line as Asia and Pacer Bob crossed the line in 2 hrs. 13 min. and 17 sec. It was another milestone for her, and it wouldn't have happened without The Running Fit 501 Team and Coach Gina.

It is now 2009 and Asia is in her 7th session training with "her" team. She has run 7 half-marathons now and 14 other races last year. I recently ran a total of Asia's miles since she joined the team nearly 3 years ago. Conservatively, she has run over 5,000 miles. And with the exception of a short injury break in 2003, she has run every day for the past 10 years. Since 2001 she has run in 70+ races.

Asia's 28th birthday is Saturday and on Sunday she will run her first Marathon....the Martian Marathon in Dearborn, MI. Two of her teammates, who are running in the Boston Marathon later this month, will run as her pacers.

We don't know where all this will take her, but we are grateful for the opportunities that being a member of a team again have given her. She has no plans for quitting, and as long as she wants to run, we'll get her to practice and to races. Asia continues to inspire us and everyone who meets her. In spite of her less-than-optimistic start in life, Asia is grateful for everything, and joyfully blooms where she is planted.

This photo is courtesy of Brightroom.com