Meet Our Members: Cecilia Morin

I started running when I was a sixth grader. After years of watching my dad (fellow Central Maine Striders member Brian Morin) through the window as he ran along our street day after day, I was convinced that running was fun and effortless. Finally, I had my chance to try running one weekend morning. I ran about halfway between our house and the end of the road before stopping. Running hurt my lungs and it certainly was not as fun as I thought it would be. Eventually, I built up the endurance to run-walk three-quarters of a mile to our neighbors’ barn where I fed carrots to their goats. The promise of feeding the animals fueled me to keep trying to run, despite the burning lungs. Later on, I accumulated fitness and suddenly running became more fun than I ever imagined. I ran varsity cross-country, indoor track, and outdoor track at Waterville Senior High School.

Though I initially thought I wanted to run on a Division III college team, I ended up attending Dartmouth College and running as part of a club team instead. I have been an active member of DRT (pronounced “dirt”), the Dartmouth Running Team, which is the club team on campus. While serving as a co-captain from March 2019 to March 2020, I helped with planning competition events and organizing team bonding opportunities. During the two springs before the pandemic, I ran in DRT’s annual overnight team relay from Maine to Vermont to raise money for the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD). While unable to run with DRT during my remote fall term, I began to attend the socially-distanced Central Maine Striders group on Wednesday nights. I looked forward to that weekly source of social(ly-distanced) running with the Central Maine Striders. Running has been a constant throughout the pandemic and I am grateful to run with my dad once again during this time.