A Colorado woman, who was born and raised in Cromwell, is set to run in two marathons in less than a week.
A Colorado woman, who was born and raised in Cromwell, is set to run in two marathons in less than a week.
One of those is the Boston Marathon, which is next Monday.
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WATCH HEREAfter finishing her first 26-mile run in Boston, Erica Kelleher Rasmussen will then go to Europe for the London Marathon, just six days later.
All of this, after dealing with a pregnancy scare, and other health-related issues.
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SIGN UP “One day, I saw obesity and high risk circled,” Rasmussen said.
Seven years ago, she got a wake-up call that would change her life forever.
“I was pregnant with my daughter. We had a pretty scary pregnancy. And there was one day where the doctor said she didn't have a heartbeat," Rasmussen said.
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Fortunately, her daughter turned out to be a healthy kid. Rasmussen and her husband now have two kids.
But that spark was all she needed to create a new lifestyle.
"I really started by taking ownership of my food and nutrition and understanding nutrition better...then I started moving more and started working out,” Rasmussen said.
But it didn’t end there. Initially, her goal was to run a race in all 50 states.
"Then that led to saying, why not try a half marathon? And the day I finished a half marathon, I punched my ticket to the New York City Marathon and ran that in 2023," she said.
From there, she would complete the Berlin and Chicago marathons two weeks apart.
And now she is prepping for her first Boston Marathon next week, followed by the London Marathon less than a week later.
“Six years ago, I couldn’t get up a flight of stairs without being winded," Rasmussen said. "And so now to be running two marathons in six days is really exciting, but it took a lot of work to get there.”
She told us she has lost about 100 pounds since starting her fitness journey.
Rasmussen hopes her story can inspire others to take action in whatever goal they want to achieve.
“I will do my best. I'll have fun. And I will finish," Rasmussen said. "I’m determined."
She won't be running only for herself. All of her events are for charities.
She will run for the Boston Medical Center and VICTA in London.
