Belinda was born in Augusta, Georgia and moved to Appling, Georgia when she was age six. Her father worked construction and step mom was a housekeeper. Summers were spent camping at nearby Clark Hill Lake. Belinda and her parents would stay at their rustic lake campsite (no electricity) for weeks with ;)
occasional trips home for supplies. As a youngster, Belinda loved climbing trees and collecting bugs but now she still loves climbing trees but collects rocks. The family relocated to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina just before her junior year in high school. Belinda graduated from North Myrtle Beach High in 1983. She was not involved in school sports but wanted to be a cheerleader. Belinda’s inability to do a cartwheel precluded her from being selected for the cheer squad. After graduation Belinda returned to Augusta for a few months, thereafter soon moving to Chicago, Illinois to live with her mother.
Belinda and her mother moved back to Athens, Georgia in 1985 and she has;)
resided in the Athens-Watkinsville area since. She found employment with DuPont and currently works for Invista (formerly DuPont) in Planning/Scheduling with twenty-six year tenure. She started her athletic apprenticeship after initial employment by going to a gym with friends after work for aerobics. After a few months, Belinda and her roommate evolved their exercise routine into distance biking. Belinda started taking courses at Akers Computerized Learning Center in order to advance at work but found she succeeded more socially as she met her future husband Paul whom she married in 1990. Belinda started running in 1992 by training and participating in a Duathlon at Jekyll Island. She was ten weeks pregnant by race day and was relegated to the role of a pouting spectator. After the birth of son Justin she began to run regularly with the goal of shedding the weight acquired during pregnancy. Her first 5K was the 1995 Colbert Canna. Disappointed at not placing and frustrated at the speed of others in her age group, she pushed herself a little harder and took advice from new running friends. Her friend Tony mentored and pushed her from two miles up to five miles on weeknights and thus success at races.
Her first marathon was in 1999 at McDonough with her first and only marathon in 2000 at Tybee Island. Accomplishments to date are nine half marathons, one marathon, two sprint triathlons, three duathlons, a one hundred century bike ride, four fifty mile charity bike rides, two metric century rides (sixty-four miles), and a lot of 5,8, and 10K races. Belinda is currently ranked in both the Run and See Georgia and Black Bag Race Series in the 45-49 female age group and has been so for years. A special sprint triathlon was at Callaway Gardens a few years ago where Mark and Nancy Kelly were married after the event. Belinda observed that she “has traveled to many races with my awesome friends over the years. We are all so spread out in different towns, but that was a fun way to meet up and socialize and get some running in.” Belinda did the Thrill in the Hills Half Marathon and plans on repeating the event in 2014. It rained so hard prior to the 2013 race that Belinda felt she was running in a creek for the entire course. Training for trail runs has resulted in a few cuts and bruises over the years. Her favorite race was her first Peachtree.
;)
Son Justin, now twenty, begin running at age twelve but has not done so consistently in his teenage years. Recently on a weekday run at Veterans Park with son Justin he caught up with her at the two mile mark and ran the last three miles of her training run with her. Belinda describes this as “a mother’s dream! “Her weekly fitness routine is Yoga two days a week, running at least three days, and taking Friday off with a few bike ride thrown in at random.
Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Watch for articles on Ricky Hayes and Sarah Wishnietsky.