Start Line Stories: Camille Nimmons’ Journey to Running and Becoming Her Own Cheerleader

It was the beginning of 2018, and Camille Nimmons went to her first-ever vision board party. She started thinking about what the year ahead had in store for her and what she could see herself doing. Running had never been on her radar before but, for some reason, an article about a girl who had run a marathon caught her eye. A clipping of that article went onto her board.

“For the first time ever, I thought to myself: I’d like to run a marathon,” Camille said. “But I didn’t think much about it again until May and then one day I looked at my board and thought, I should do this, I should train for a marathon.”

She had heard about her hometown race – the Detroit Free Press Marathon – but thought that a mere 5 months to prepare for her first marathon was not quite enough time; so she put the 2019 race on her calendar and she started running. A year-and-a-half later, in October of 2019, she completed her first ever road race - a marathon!

But she didn’t stop there, not only did she keep running, but she started her own run club and personal training business. And now, six years after that first vision board party, she coaches 40-50 clients a week in the Detroit metro area and motivates women like her to run, to lift and to: “Be Your Own Cheerleader.”

Read Camille’s full Start Line Story below:

Name: Camille Nimmons

Age: 28

Where are you from and where is home now?

Southfield, Michigan (metro Detroit)

How many marathons and/or half marathons have you completed and what was your first road race?

I’ve done two full marathons and three half marathons and my third marathon is going to be this Sunday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I did my first marathon – my first race ever - in 2019 and I’ve been doing one every year since then. It all started at a vision board party in 2018. I wasn’t a runner at the time, but somehow on my vision board there was this article of this girl who liked to run and had just done a marathon. I thought: I’d like to run a marathon. Then in May, I looked at my vision board again and I hadn’t done anything. So I started running and training.

At that time in my life, I had trouble sticking to things and staying consistent. And even though I’d committed to running a marathon, I didn’t tell anyone or post about it because I didn’t want to share until it became real for myself. That was when the whole idea of “Be Your Own Cheerleader” came to be. It was about doing something for myself and not doing it to seek validation from others.

After my first marathon, I just loved it, I loved running! I started incorporating weight training too and I just loved how it made me feel. I wanted to share that with others, so I started personal training. I started off with 1-2 clients, and now I have 40-50 clients and it’s my full time job.

What inspired you to sign up for the 2024 Eugene Marathon?

I’ll be doing the half in Eugene and I’m really excited about it. My friend Joe Robinson (co-founder of Detroit run club WeRun313) told me about it. I was finishing up a New Year’s Day run and Joe was there and he was telling me about Eugene, so I did some research and Eugene looked dope. My BYOC crew (the “Be Your Own Cheerleader” Run Club she founded) does a lot of local races, but we want to travel more and I thought Eugene would be a great fit.

Do you have a coach or are you following a specific training plan?

Yes. I will put one together after my marathon in Florida.

Do you have a goal or goals for Eugene 2024?

I would like to hit 1:40, but we shall see. My PR is 1:50 but I feel like I could push myself a little more.

Why run? 

It goes back to the vision board and why I started running and started BYOC. Before I started running, I didn’t have faith in myself. I gave myself limitations. Running taught me discipline, it taught me consistency, it gave be a sense of accomplishment. After I do 8 miles, or 10 miles, or a marathon, I’ve done something. And I love sharing that with my clients. So much of it is a mental game. I had clients who did their first half marathon this year and they come to me and are stressed about work or something else and I just say to them: you did a half marathon, you can do anything. A lot of people can’t do that, they can’t stay focused, they can’t commit to the training. But that’s running: you just gotta keep going, you gotta push through it and just like in life, you can always push a little harder.

Check out Camille on Instagram at @camille.nimmons and see her and a big crew from Detroit at the Start Line!