(June 12, 2015) With the ocean as her destination, Caitlin Adams is still all about the journey.
“I’m going to run across the Route 50 bridge at 9 a.m., cross Division Street and keep on going until I hit the water,” the 18-year-old Towson freshman said.
With that plunge, the track star will have completed a 390-mile journey she began on May 23 in Cumberland to run across the entire state while raising money for Limbs for Life, a nonprofit organization that provides prosthetic limbs for people who may not be able to afford them. She is expected to arrive in Ocean City on June 27.
When contacted on Tuesday evening, she was in Dublin, Md. and was beginning the 15-mile run to Rising Sun. When five miles of that journey was completed, she officially hit the halfway point of her trek.
“Every uphill has a downhill, I have to keep telling myself that. I’m moving forward and my body’s holding up. I have some aches, pains and blisters but I’m getting through it,” she said.
Distance running can be a lonely sport, and it has left Adams with a lot of time to think.
“Sometimes I don’t think of anything,” she laughed, “but I do wonder what I want to do next. Maybe I’ll run across Maryland again, because I know what I’m doing now, or across the United States. I might write a book because I have a few words I’d like to get out there.”
If she does decide to run across the state again, nothing much would change, she said. She would still be raising money for Limbs for Life, and she’s been happy with the route she laid out, including the choice to skip the bay bridge in favor of turning north and running up and around the Chesapeake Bay.
The other options would bring additional plans into the mix, she said.
“With prosthetics, I see something that should be fixed. If you’re born missing a limb or have lost one serving our country you should be able to have it replaced,” she said. “So many other things can be fixed if we take a step back and maybe make more changes.”
Adams said running makes here feel good.
“All you have to do is believe in your idea. Anyone can do anything. I remember what I want to do with my life and what I want to do next,” she said.
That’s the big picture, but the small-scale stuff matters just as much.
“I think a lot about water, and how thirsty and hot I can get out there,” she said.
Last week’s heavy rainfall didn’t help either.
“While I was out running it was great, but as soon as I stopped it got cold and I was shivering,” she said.
Adams said she has learned a thing or two about shoes as well.
“I started with four pairs, and they’re all holding up, but the really light ones I liked when I started have become my least favorite pair,” she said. “The expensive ones I found really stiff, but now they’re my favorite pair.”
Adams has raised almost $17,000 for Limbs for Life through her crowdsourcing site: www.crowdrise.com/caitlinsmdrun-prosthetics.
Each prosthetic costs about $2,500 according to Adams, so she’s about $500 short of being able to provide another prosthetic limb to the 200-plus people on the charity’s list of potential recipients.
