Mary Woodward ‘21 has been through a lot. Dealing with anxiety and dyslexia can be hard enough but adding in the loss of loved ones can add to the struggle. Dyslexia can affect everyone differently, and for Woodward, it affects her speech.

“Sometimes I say words out of order that they should be said and I sound drunk half the time,” Woodward said. She also said that sometimes when she reads, her dyslexia jumbles up the words on the page and they shake and disappear. “And my spelling is basically crap.”

Woodward’s anxiety really kicked in when she moved from Wisconsin to Iowa in fourth grade. “I would cry before school because I was so scared to go and sometimes I would miss school because I had such horrible panic attacks and I basically never left my house,” Woodward said.

Things got worse for Woodward however. A couple of years ago, Woodward’s best friend Jack committed suicide. He was her best friend for years and she was devastated. Now, she tries to focus on promoting suicide awareness and honoring him.

Then, this summer, Woodward’s cousin Ben, who was only 19, died in a four wheeler accident. A four wheeler is an ATV witch stands for an “All Terrain Vehicle.” They are very dangerous and many accidents happen on them. Between 300 and 400 deaths happen a year due to ATV accidents.

“He was a firefighter so they had a ‘last call’ when they get on the radio and order a call for him multiple times. It was an emotional time for Woodward and she vows that she will never set foot on a four wheeler ever again.

Woodward uses running to  escape her negative emotions. Her love for  running all started in her small backyard with two kiddie-pools on either side. Her father would chase her back and forth, and at first it began as a game, but soon became a love of running. Woodward officially joined track in eighth grade, and soon noticed that running was a lifestyle for her.

“Mary just loves to run. You can just see the smile on her face” said Favour Alaprape ’21, a friend of Woodward. Following in her father’s footsteps, she continued doing cross country and track in high school. However, she was injured last year and had to take a break. Woodward, however, went to every practice and stayed loyal to her team. Now that Woodward is healed, she is running once more.

Woodward has been through many challenges in life, but with the help of running and close friends, she has overcome her struggles and is now thriving as a star runner. “Running has been a way to escape my emotions- without it, I don’t know what I would do.”