Start Line Stories: Former Collegiate Runner & Recent Kidney Donor Finds Redemption and Purpose in Marathons
This week’s Start Line Story and the final one for the 2024 season takes us to Connecticut, where Megan Connolly is in the middle of her biggest mileage week to date. She’ll get up to 70 miles this week and in April she’s shooting to break 2:50 and all this is just nine months after donating a kidney to benefit a friend.
Last July, Megan didn’t know what this day would look like, but she did know that she wanted to donate a kidney to start a chain reaction of kidney donations across the country, that ultimately resulted in her boss’s wife Margrette receiving a life-saving kidney transplant. Now, she’s spreading the word about living organ donation and planning a bucket-list trip to Eugene for the first time ever. And when she’s here in April, she’s hoping to feel that Hayward Field magic she’s been dreaming about since middle school and to set a big PR.
Read Megan’s full Start Line Story below:
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Name: Megan Connolly (aka Megan Morant on WWE)
Age: 29
Where are you from and where is home now?
I’m from Chicago and now I live in Connecticut.
Why did you choose to sign up for Eugene 2024?
I’ve been running since I was eight years old and ever since I started running, I’ve wanted to go to Eugene. In middle school and high school, my team would have pasta parties the night before meets and we’d watch Without Limits (the Steve Prefontaine movie) to get motivated. My whole life I’ve wanted to go to Eugene. I’ve done Boston several times, and I wanted to try something different this year. I cannot wait to experience the Hayward Magic! Every single workout I do, I say to myself: just pretend you’re at Hayward Field.
How many marathons have you done and what was your first road race?
I’ve done 12 marathons in my career, and Eugene will be my 13th. I don’t remember what my first road race was, because I was eight, but my first marathon was in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Marathons have served a different purpose for me as a post-collegiate runner. My college running career just didn’t quite pan out the way I’d hoped it would, and after college I was pretty burnt out on running. I spent years not even running with a watch; I just needed a break from running against a clock. Then I started doing marathons and I was running 3:20s to start and then I thought, if I could break 3:00 that would be amazing. Then, in 2020, when so many women who were mothers, career-women, etc. hit the Olympic Trials qualifying time, I felt so moved and so inspired by their stories. It inspired me to start really training again. So I got back into it, I got back onto the track, and started doing intervals again. Then the pandemic hit, and that was tough, but I kept at it. And I also switched jobs and had to move to Orlando and at first I struggled to run a lot there because it was so so hot, but then I went to Track Shack one day and I met a guy who fitted me with shoes and he invited me to a track workout. I met a great group of people in Orlando and had an amazing time and it really started to click that I could have a different experience with running then I did in college: I could still set goals, I could still chase them down and accomplish them. Then I moved to Connecticut for a new job and because of my experience in Orlando, I knew what I needed to do. So I immediately connected with Heather Knight Pech - who’s my coach now - and I have a great group of running friends.
What kind of training plan are you following and do you have a specific goal on race day?
I’m working with Heather Knight Pech, who was one of the people in charge of putting on the McKirdy Micro Marathon. She’s really been pushing me to get my mileage up and I’m going to hit 70 miles this week for the first time ever. My goal on race day is to break 2:50. My PR is 2:56 and I’d be happy with breaking my PR… but I’m hoping for 2:50 and all my training indicates that it’s possible.
Why Run?
What I love so much about running is all the possibilities that exist because you run. Every time you run, you go out there and you push your body and you’ve got hopes and dreams and there’s just so much possibility. I also run because I want to share my experience of being a living kidney donor. Last July, I donated my left kidney to a stranger and that kicked off a chain reaction so that four people got kidneys, including my boss’s wife Margrette. I had no idea, but I realized through the process that you can donate your kidney and still run marathons. I donated in July and ran the NYC marathon in November. When I got evaluated, I knew it was possible to still run, but no one told me I’d be able to PR in a marathon again and I feel stronger now than I ever have before.
Running has given me community, it has opened doors for me to get a great education, and it has surrounded me with the best people I’ve ever met. So I run because of that, but now I also run because I want to show people that living organ donation is possible; that you can be a living organ donor and still do so many things, like run a marathon.
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Megan will be part of this year’s elite women’s marathon field and we are so excited to welcome her to Eugene. Give her a follow on Instagram: @meganmorantwwe and give her a high five on race day!