Last week I got to speak with Jodie Potter, a runner from Philipsburg, Pa., for a story for P3R’s charity newsletter (P3R is Pittsburgh Three Rivers Marathon, the folks who produce the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, GNC Live Well Liberty Mile and EQT 10-Miler, among other great races). Jodie is a fundraiser for the Emily Whitehead Foundation, which I highly recommend you check out if you’re looking for something to support. Emily is a little girl who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of five. She’s now 11 and has been cancer-free for more than four years thanks to T-Cell therapy, and was actually the first child in the world to receive the treatment. You can read all about her story on the website:
http://emilywhiteheadfoundation.org
Jodie’s daughter was in the same kindergarten class as Emily when she was diagnosed. It already hit too close to home, but not long after the Potters world would truly shift when their 2-year-son was diagnosed with lymphoma. Like Emily, Corben is also now cancer-free. Jodie and I had a great talk, and the interview was wrapping up. She’d answered all my questions and we were just chatting about running in general and its usefulness in times of stress. I wasn’t even taking notes when she said something I didn’t need to write down in order for it to stick with me.
She said, “Going out on a hot day or a cold day or a snowy day is nothing compared to having to sit with your son in the crib getting chemotherapy, so I’m thankful for the opportunity to get out and do that so another mom doesn’t have to.”
Wow.
As a writer, it was a great reminder that sometimes you need to go with the flow, and while prepared questions are vital, it’s also important to have a conversation with the person you’re talking to. Get to know them, so your audience can, too.
I also did a FaceTime interview with the top-ranked women’s cyclist and 2016 Olympian in the world last week. She was in Doha, Qatar, getting ready for the UCI Road World Championships.
Megan Guarnier feature for TeamUSA.org
One last interview of note was with Dr. Vonda Wright, the well-known orthopedic surgeon, fitness guru and expert on healthy living and aging and women’s health. She has an exciting conference coming up called Women’s Health Conversations, so we chatted about who should attend (women! all women!) and what they expect to get out of it. I’ll circle back with the link once it’s up.
In the meantime, here’s the website:
KAREN PRICE FREELANCE 