Karen Maas-Columnist

Her journey as a runner began when Karen Maas happened to land on the web site for the Los Angeles Marathon. Inspired by the ordinariness of the runners, she vowed to become a marathoner herself. But she had never run at all. With two daughters to raise and homeschool, Maas made the time and finally fulfilled her goal of running LA. She hasn’t stopped running since. Maas has to run first thing in the morning or, "It just doesn’t get done." She’s busy with homeschooling her two teenage daughters and a variety of projects that include assisting the coaches on her local swim team. Married to Reggie who she met in a nuclear physics class in college, they live on 20 acres (shared with the neighbor’s Jacob sheep) in Newberg, Oregon, south of Portland. Writing about the highs and lows of the everyman (and woman) runner from her unique perspective, has landed Maas a gig she never expected.

"I’m slow, I’m overweight, I’ll never win a race. But we’re on this journey together."