Michelle Krok
Michelle has been running since the age of 12. Over 4 decades later, she continues to run. Originally starting as a sprinter, she found her niche. In a surprise turn of events, when she was in her late teens, she was invited by a friend (who ran cross-country) to join their team training one afternoon. She tried it! She didn’t immediately fall in love – in fact, she thought anyone that ran beyond a 5k must be nuts. Now, many years later, she is part of that crazy world. Her first ½ marathon was at the age of 24, and her first FULL at 40, but with countless smaller races and miles in between. Slowly, she learned to overcome the strenuousness of the full marathon distance, embracing the length of the race on a monthly basis. She enjoys competing in back to back races and attributes her quick rate of recovery to a dedicated cross-training program (in the area of cycling, body-weighted exercises, strength training and, of course PILATES). Understanding and embracing the foundational concepts of Joseph Pilates, Michelle has taken on a whole-new approach to the body’s restorative path (particularly spinal balance, alignment & flexibility).
A mother and grandmother, Michelle has faced many physical and spiritual challenges in life, the greatest of which was her diagnosis with Graves’ disease in 2001. As an avid promoter of homeopathic methods to combat many of the diseases related to the immune system, Michelle has been med-free for 19 years, all of it resulting from a disciplined eating plan and regimented exercise. She attributes her spiritual victories to her Christian faith, and uses her running (and abilities) to encourage, inspire and show compassion to those that are facing equally emotional and spiritually challenging defeats in their own life. First Aid/CPR, GroupX, TRX, Cycling and Comprehensive Pilates Training certified, she also enjoys coaching people of all levels. After several attempts at qualifying for Boston, she achieved this feat in November of 2014. And, since then, has qualified (and helped qualify others) every year thereafter. Having just recently completed over 100 marathons, 1-ultramarathon of 54 miles in South Africa with a time of 10:13 (Comrades-up run year), 1-50k in California under grueling muddy conditions in 8:13 (Sean O’Brien), too many half marathons and other distances to count (5k/10k/15k/10-milers), she enjoys running on varying terrains (road, trails, asphalt, cement, snow, etc). As long as it’s outdoors, there’s a reason to run for this seasoned athlete.
She started pacing (sighted and able-bodied runners) in 2016 years ago and guiding in 2017 (blind & visually impaired runners). She’s led blind and/or visually impaired runners during training runs, races and to BQ goal accomplishments. She’s back for her 4th Boston qualification in 2020 (2016/2018/2019/2020), 3rd consecutive year (2018/2019/2020) and 3rd year guiding at Boston as well.
