Colleen Stephens - Running the Numbers

Colleen is the second from the rightColleen was born in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin in 1952.  Her parents relocated to Hollywood, Florida to escape the Wisconsin Cheese when she was age five.  Colleen graduated from South Broward High School in 1970 and married shortly thereafter. Married life carried her to Anderson, South Carolina until a divorce in necessitating that she move to Atlanta in 1974.  With her daughter, they came to the great state of Georgia to be closer to Colleen’s father, his work and their family.

Colleen’s early work career was in the employ of K-Mart in various stores from Atlanta, GA to Columbus, MS, and eventually at the regional office here in Atlanta.  Colleen left K-Mart for an accounting bookkeeping position with a maintenance company, American Building Maintenance.  Later she joined a Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firm in downtown Atlanta.  Despite the lack of formal training in accounting, Colleen excelled and knew she had found a vocation that she enjoyed.  While working at the CPS firm of Berman Mills and Company, Colleen met the love of her life, husband Chuck Stephens.  She also became determined to attend college and obtain a degree in accounting.

Colleen enrolled and attended Clayton State University until she and Chuck were married in 1984.  They relocated to Franklin, Georgia where Chuck had a family farm.  Colleen found an accounting position in nearby LaGrange, Georgia with another CPA firm.  Colleen's GraduationNot content with farm crops, Colleen and Chuck raised two sons.  Chip was born in 1985 and Clint in 1988.  Colleen transferred to the University of West Georgia in 1993 after placing her educational endeavors on hold when they relocated to Franklin.  Colleen reentered college graduating from West Georgia in 1996 and successfully passed the state CPA exam in 1997.  In the interim, Colleen and Chuck had started their own CPA firm in the metropolis of Franklin.

Colleen, in 2002, found herself gaining weight and wanted lose the extra pounds before she became taller lying down than she was standing up.  She began walking and eventually running.  She lost forty pounds in the first three months of running and exercising.  Her first race was a 5K on April 27, 2002 in Morrow, Georgia.  She placed dead last but finished and found the satisfaction of being out there.  Shortly thereafter she discovered the “madness” of running for points and found that we did not have a CPA runner, so she began to calculate, crunch and decipher the numbers, also known as “chasing the points”.  She finished fifth in her age group that year and finished sixth in the new 2012 Black Bag Race Series point standings and ran 102.7 Black Bag Miles in the competitive women age group of 55-59.  Colleen has run the Peachtree Road Race for the past ten years and intends to do so as long as she is physically able to do so, then she will transfer to the wheelchair division!

Chip leaving for AfghanistanAfter years of “nagging” (Bob cannot image a woman that nags!), Colleen has convinced other members of the family to run with her.  She is frequently joined by daughter Christine Carroll, who is a teacher at Roopville Elementary. Her grandson Luke Carroll is a sophomore at Heard County High and runs cross country and is on the basketball team. Participation includes granddaughter Lanie Carroll, a third grader at Roopville, son Clint, a LaGrange police officer, and daughter in law Amanda, a teacher also at Roopville. Son Chip is in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Afghanistan but no doubt ran there. He came home from Afghanistan at the end of September and is now stationed at Ft. Stewart in Hinesville.  When his enlistment is finished, he plans on returning to teaching at the middle school level.  Her daughter in law Marti also runs with her but she has been sidelined due to a back injury she received on a waterslide over the summer.

Not only does her family enjoy running but her dogs do too!  BeauBeau is a big dog that protects her on her runs.  You may catch her pushing a jogging stroller but be careful if you look in to get some baby loving.  Inside are her two little canines, Scappy and Boo Boo.  Boo BooThey may be too little to run far but they enjoy the run in style.

Colleen is struggling with plantar fasciitis and temporarily sidelined in the Black Bag Race Series injured reserve.  She is expected to rejoin the weekend “madness” at New Years at Noon.   Her injury regret this year is not earning her second 2012 Clover Glove.  Nevertheless, with one hand gloved, Colleen has a goal to run a race in every state and has done so in five states to date.  A secondary goal is to run a race in every county in Georgia.         

ScrappyBob checking out from the back of the pack.  Look for more profiles in 2013 from Randall Martin and the winner of the Augusta feather weight division Myra Nance.