This week’s incredible member spotlight is on Sheela Belagutti:

I was never into athletics. I did sign up for few 5K in 2022-2023 as part of great causes in memory of family members who lost their lives. After the Frederick running festival in May, I started getting suggestions on Facebook about FSRC and I joined the public page and was unaware of the private pages. I did learn more about the club and the private group run pages from Barbara and Billy. My first question was, am I eligible to be part of this running club? Answer was, “Of course you are eligible! We are a club of all paces, and everyone is welcome to join.” I then signed up and didn’t look back.

I’m very grateful for what I achieved after joining the club in May 2023. I was part of the women’s distance festival 5k training program and attended almost all the training sessions. The coaches had amazing energy and were very helpful with all the information shared across whole training program. My training buddies were amazing too. It was a great pleasure to run with each one of them.

I am happy to say that my 5k time is reduced by 5 mins. My daughter and I ran the Women’s Distance Festival and had great time.

I wanted to try the pie run knowing it would be one of my hardest runs considering it was my first 10k and hilly. I did complete it, not at my absolute best but crossing the finish line was a great pleasure.

I am planning to run few more 5k and 10k races this year.

I don’t think my story is impressive but what I achieved through the free training program, from the club and from the coaches is what I take as a great accomplishment.

I like group runs the most. I think I’m loving running and going to continue this.