Hello! Welcome back to The Footprint. Happy Friday.

A few days ago I caught up with Serena Burla, a former professional marathoner, who recently returned to racing for the first time seven years.

Rather than add pages to a previous chapter of her life, she set about writing an altogether new one.

📬 Edition #16: Serena Burla on letting joy take the lead; taking nothing for granted; and winning two marathons in as many months.

• Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.

What Running Should Be

Serena Burla has run her share of races that weren’t fun. During her final marathon as a pro, 2018’s notoriously freezing Boston Marathon, she staved off hypothermia by grabbing a trash bag and wearing it for the rest of the race.

For seven years after retirement, Burla steered well clear of organized races. “Something was holding me back,” she said, “from just going out and doing something I love.”

It was only last fall, while helping a high school cross country team and “really preaching about stepping outside of your comfort zone,” that she started to consider stepping out of hers.

It wouldn’t be how it used to be, with sponsors, support crews, pressure and expectations. But Burla isn’t who she used to be, either.

“I’m not the same runner I was eight years ago,” she said. “I can still enjoy it in a different way, and it can still be this new phase of my running life.”

This time, she was determined to have some fun.

● ● ●

Late last month Burla, 42, flew to California. A friend had persuaded her to sign up for the Big Sur International Marathon.

She knew she was in good shape. Eight weeks earlier, she had been due to pace another friend and test her legs at the Newport News One City Marathon in Virginia. When the friend pulled out with flu, Burla decided to race anyway – and won.

But Big Sur was the big one: a bucket list race that snaked up the west coast, with challenging climbs and extraordinary views along the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

As dawn broke on the last Sunday of April, and rain drizzled upon thousands of runners at the start line, Burla sheltered under a truck to stay dry. This wasn’t how it used to be.

And then the race began. She quickly fell into a small pack of runners that included a former race winner, Anne Flower; a YouTuber with a selfie stick; and a man who, by his own admission, was going way too fast.

The YouTuber, Tyler Fennema, passed around his camera to nearby runners to take turns filming. Burla laughed. This wasn’t how it used to be.

“It was just the most fun,” she said. “Joy... leads you a long way.”

Big Sur is not an easy race. The hills start rolling and don’t stop. Elements lingering over the fringes of the Pacific get propelled onto Highway 1. Spectators are banned along most of the course.

Burla felt “at one” with it all, embracing the challenges that lay around each bend. “A lot of times running can put you in that happy place.”

By her count, she must have commented on the beauty of the landscape a hundred times. “I felt so grateful to be out there, and experiencing it,” she said. “This is what running should be: painful, but fun.”

The pack dwindled as she approached the toughest stretch of the course, a 500ft climb between miles ten and twelve, until only Fennema was left by her side.

Burla allowed herself to grin, briefly, as she enjoyed and endured the ascent. She had run a lot of marathons, but “didn’t even know what 500ft of consecutive climbing looks like.”

At around this point, according to Burla, she took the lead in the women’s race. She and Fennema pressed ahead, thanking volunteers and encouraging runners tackling shorter distances.

“At some point in the marathon, it’s always a grind,” she said. “But until those last few miles, it’s more like just getting into a rhythm that’s comfortably uncomfortable, versus incredibly uncomfortable.”

The hills kept coming. But as the finish drew closer, the cheers grew louder. She made it to Carmel, where hundreds of spectators had gathered to support friends and relatives. But first, they cheered for her.

Burla broke the tape, and won the Big Sur International Marathon.

The experience helped her see racing in a new light, she said. The training, although significant, did not take over her life. The challenge was exciting, but not all consuming.

“What did I do before the marathon? I went to the aquarium,” she laughed. This wasn’t how it used to be. “You can still race, and you can have fun, and you don’t have to make all these sacrifices. And it’s okay.”

Burla didn’t have to be who she once was. She could be who she is.

● ● ●

Not everyone finds joy in running. But it makes Burla feel alive.

“For me, I love running because I love to just get outside and be in my thoughts and solve the world’s problems – just to have that clear space that, I think, has become harder and harder to find, with all the technology we have,” she said.

Less than a year ago, Burla wondered if her time as a runner was over.

Back in 2010, as her career was taking off, she was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare former of cancer, and underwent surgery for a tumor in her right leg. In 2017, she noticed a new lump where the old tumor had been; the cancer had returned, and the tumor was again removed.

“This past summer, I had my hamstring in that leg – what’s left of it – really flare up,” she said. As she took time out, Burla questioned if she would ever run again.

“We don’t know if our body’s just going to say ‘okay - I hope you enjoyed your journey in that sport’,” she said. “Noone is guaranteed anything.”

You feel a lot of things running a marathon, from start line nerves to the exhaustion of the final strait. But above all, along Highway 1 last month, Burla felt grateful. “My body was in one piece,” she said, “and able to take me through.”

• Watch: Serena Burla’s TED Talk: Taking Control of the CAN in Cancer

• Watch: TylerTheRunner’s video blog from Big Sur

AROUND AND ABOUT

🥇 Snowdonia surprise. Canadian ultra runner Stephanie Case went into the UTMB 100K in Eyri, Wales – three years after her last race, and six months after giving birth to her daughter – with no expectations. She won.

⛰️ Trail runner on trial. Michelino Sunseri, who cut a switchback last September when trying to break the speed record up and down Grand Teton National Park’s tallest mountain, was cited by rangers with violating federal regulations. Kylie Mohr reports for SF Gate.

😠 The run club haters. For some solo runners in New York, the rise of group jogging has sparked hot rage, Melissa Dahl writes for Curbed.

🇦🇺 Record claimed down under. British ultra runner William Goodge says he ran the width of Australia – a grueling 2,361-mile trek from Cottesloe Beach in Perth to Bondi Beach – in just 35 days.

RECENT EDITIONS

• #15 Dreaming Bigger | Faith Kipyegon’s bid to break four minutes in the mile

• #14 Space On The Mountaintop | industry leader Frankie Ruiz on sustaining the running boom

• #13 You Can’t Be What You Can’t See | 26.TRUE race directors on rewriting the marathon

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think: just hit ‘reply,’ or email me.

Have a great weekend.

– Callum