<div>My name is Kendra, and I've spent my life discovering a balance between my passion and involvement in the arts and athletics. Despite being an athlete my entire life, I never liked running. Now I'm running the Sydney Marathon for kids who are learning to read. 
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<div>It’s 2014: my sophomore year at York College of Pennsylvania. I’m a sprinter and jumper on the track team, but I hate running. And one thing I hate more than running? Singing. I’m flat out scared of anyone hearing me sing, and I cannot carry a tune. But, a dance instructor at my college and director of the local community theater suggests I audition to be a technical dancer in The Wizard of Oz. I find myself on an empty stage, looking into an auditorium filled with kids and actors and theater staff. I have a number pinned to my shirt. It’s my first audition and the first choice I’ve made for myself, to try something completely new. Dancing in front of an audience has always been easy. But I’ve never acted. 
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<div>“Now, your prepared song.”
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<div>I freeze. I hadn’t prepared a song or even realized I had to sing as part of a dancing audition. “Just sing Happy Birthday,” the musical’s director says. 
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<div>So, I dive into the unknown. I sing in front of a crowd for the first time and land my first role in a musical. “Happy Birthday” became my trademark audition song.
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<div>I wouldn’t have guessed I’d audition for four more musicals, learn how to read sheet music, or enjoy singing in the ensemble. I didn’t expect to trade in track and field after four seasons to become a theater girl. Fast forward to my last year of college: I’m a technical dancer in Oliver! and I’m writing a final essay for a college course about who I want to be.
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<div>I want to be a writer, I decide during a rehearsal. Suddenly, I’m sitting backstage, on the carpet of the dressing room, submitting graduate school applications on a whim. Being a writer in New York City seemed like an impossible dream.
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<div>That year, I ended up graduating with a B.S. in biology and a B.A. in professional writing. I completed my MFA at Columbia University, got a job teaching writing to kids and teens at Writopia Lab in Manhattan, and I had a manuscript draft. I still hadn’t returned to running. But at some point, I have to get to the running part right?
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<div>For the past almost-decade that I’ve lived in the city, I’ve dove head-first into every challenge, risk, and curiosity. 
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<div>Last summer I reclaimed the role running had in my life; I registered for my first marathon. I simply thought, why not? While I’ve been training in dance, theater, and sports my entire life, I didn’t think much about training to run 26.2 miles. I had never run more than a 5k, but I committed to running the 2025 Philadelphia Marathon for myself. I joined a Run Club, No More Lonely Runs.
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<div>I took my endurance from being an educator, athlete, and writer with me as I began imagining what life could look like if I could successfully weave these passions together. 
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<div>That same summer, I read that 0.0001% of women finish an Ironman. Why not be an anomaly? I had this hunger to accomplish the impossible: cue The Lake Placid Ironman.
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<div>This spring, I found the opportunity to run the 2026 TCS Sydney Marathon for NYC educational nonprofit Teaching Matters; it was an answered prayer–the chance to finally combine my passion for education and fitness.
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<div>I often teach in underserved communities, where food deserts are real, where 7th graders are learning to spell "cat." Teaching Matters is singularly focused on increasing teacher effectiveness. Their core literacy program has helped 83% of the most "stuck" pre-readers advance or grow into readers. Without intervention, kids who fall behind in reading often never catch up by high school; these are the kids for which I’m running. To many NYC communities, literacy truly means life access. 
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<div>June 2026: Just like that first number I remember pinning on my shirt during my very first audition, I pin number 1587 onto my Zoot trisuit for my first Ironman and cross the finish line. It’s a feat I didn’t even have time to dream about. In less than a year, I’ve finished ten races–in four states and three countries–and counting. 
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<div>As I prepare for Ironman, the “Sydney Dream” is right around the corner. Teaching Matters presents a mission that I so fully connect with; this marathon is personal and professional colliding at the most beautiful moment. My cousin’s family lives in Sydney, and I have been searching for a reason to finally see them. Every jump I’ve taken this year has been unexpectedly door-opening, but they’ve all been intentional and meaningful. Impeccable timing merging with self-discovery. 
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<div>Adjustment has never been my thing; it’s always been an immediate immersion; consistency, commitment, and perseverance. Because I’ve jumped into the unknown—that leap of faith— instead of away from what scared me, I’m an educator, produced playwright, theater critic, run coach, women’s college basketball official, and a hybrid athlete. I’m a part of that 0.1% of women who have finished a 70.3 Ironman, and I plan to be a part of the 0.0001% that crosses the finish line of a full Ironman in July. I want to be the role model for young women, and all the kids I interact with daily–that mentor that encourages them to not only embrace dreams and passions but run with them. 
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<div>“I can’t believe you’re here in front of me, you were just running a marathon in Austria…” Writopia Lab’s CEO hugs me as I wait for the arrival of my youngest writer this semester: a 7 year old writing a story about two moms becoming friends alongside their two kids. 
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<div>“I always come back to New York for teaching, for my writers.”
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<div>But the kids I teach are often the ones that remind me that anything is possible–that I too once had a dream that a mentor once told me I could reach.
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<div>It only takes a minute and any money you can give (no matter how large or small) will go a long way to helping me reach my target. Every donation will support my travel expenses for the Sydney Marathon, in addition to my upcoming races. Races beyond Sydney are Philadelphia Marathon, Edinburgh Marathon, HYROX Berlin, and HYROX Paris, among several other Ironman, HYROX, and marathon races.
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<div>Thank you, I really appreciate your support.
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<div>Kendra.
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Lily Gellman

Rebecca Wallace-segall

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