WEST VIRGINIA WONDER WOMEN
MISSY BURLESON Running for Summer
Missy Burleson has been running regularly since 2012. She isn’t sure what led her to sign up for her first race, but she made sure it was not in Beckley; she didn’t want anyone she knew to see her running. But after that first race, she was hooked, and something happened to increase her confidence. She joined the Facebook group “I Run 4,” which matches runners with those who can’t run. Burleson was paired with Summer, a girl who has Down Syndrome. Ever since, she has dedicated all of her runs to Summer and to raising awareness about Down Syndrome. Burleson runs at least a mile a day. Her first running streak lasted 867 days; her current streak is nearly double. But it isn’t as easy as Burleson makes it look. She has palindromic rheumatism, a form of inflammatory arthritis that, at times, causes her joints to swell. “Sometimes, I can’t get a shoe on my foot,” she says. “I’ll run barefoot, because I promised Summer I would run every day. If she can overcome her obstacles, what excuse do I have?” Burleson helps others overcome their obstacles, too, as the Beckley Community Captain of Active Southern West Virginia, a nonprofit that empowers individuals to lead healthy and active lifestyles. She is also a certified coach with Road Runners Club of America, where she is a mentor for beginning runners. Her motto? “Just keep swimming”—er, running. JC
86 wvl • fall 2020
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online