Down the road

By: Matt Hamilton, Senior Writer

Caitlin Adams, a member of Towson’s cross country team, is preparing to run 305 miles across the state of Maryland. She’s running to raise money for Limbs for Life, an organization that provides prosthetics to those in need.  She is fundraising for the run via her website, www.runacrossmaryland.com. This is the fifth and final installment of a series on Caitlin’s preparation for the run, which begins May 23.

There’s not much in Preston, Maryland, the town Adams calls home. Farms fill the outskirts and empty back roads that lead to the only restaurant in the Eastern Shore town.

“That’s why I run,” Adams said. “I have nothing else to do.”

Still, almost 50 people came out to Colonel Richardson High School, where Caitlin spent three years, on a warm and sunny Saturday morning. They came to support a “Mud-run” to help raise money for Caitlin and her run.

“I found out about her doing the run across Maryland and knowing how crazy she was, I knew she’d actually do it,” Chad Shelley, Caitlin’s former teacher at Colonel Richardson, said. “I brought [the run] up to our National Honor Society and we decided to do [a fundraiser].”

Adams’ “mud run” started at Colonel Richardson High School in Preston, Maryland.

Adams and her mother stood in a field of dandelions in front of the fence that surrounded the track as participants signed up for the run. The memories started to return.

“I went through a lot of pain on that track,” Adams said.

“That’s where it all started,” her mother said.

The group, anxious to start the run, huddled in a circle around Mr. Shelley and Adams. She thanked everyone for coming and she began sending runners out in pairs.

While the runners were making their way through the course, which entered the woods and popped back out, Caitlin and Gina Adams started thinking about the run again. With a month to go, Gina said she was confident in her daughter.

It didn’t take long for Adams to begin thinking about what’s next. She said she wants to run across America.

“Why not? There’s only a couple people who’ve ever done it,” she said, in true form.

“You could,” her mother answered.

She hasn’t started her run yet, but Adams is already looking for her next challenge.

 

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