Courtesy of Kitsap Sun – By July, New Year’s resolutions are usually long forgotten. But for Illahee native Tabatha Collins, it’s all that’s running through her mind.
“Sometimes I think: is this still important, or am I just out running?” Collins asked.
Collins’ brother, Todd Riedle, would have turned 52 on Jan. 1, and in his honor, she is signed up to participate in 52 ultramarathons.
“I might do more,” she said. “If he was here today, he’d want me to do the best that I can.”
Collins hopes to break the Guinness World Record for most ultramarathons run in one year by a female. Her goal is to raise awareness for mental health.
The last time the Kitsap Sun caught up with Collins, she was at the beginning of a 50-kilometer run she organized in Illahee Preserve on New Year’s Day in 2017 in honor of her brother’s 50th birthday.
Though the goal is making mental healthcare more accessible to all, the journey on foot is its own form of therapy to Collins.
