Congratulations to our runner of the week, Mercie Ramirez!

Mercie is running with the Nova Academy site in Santa Ana. This is her first season with URA and her very first half-marathon. From the start of training until now she has been dedicated, determined, and disciplined. Her twin sister, Marcella, who completed the OC half-marathon with URA, encouraged Mercie to join. Mercella lost weight as she trained for the OC half and is the fittest she has been in her life. Mercie is motivated to complete the Long Beach Half Marathon and would like to lose weight like her sister. She is honest and says, “My mom made me join the URA running group.” In her participant manual she states, “I don’t really like running because my mind tells me I can’t do it.”

The homework lesson during week 3 of this training season taught her to capture her thoughts and challenge her mind to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. Mercie has been challenged from day one, and she continues to push herself at every practice. Her personal mantra is, “One direction is at the finish line.” Joanne Roberson (Head Coach of the site) states, “I am so proud of Mercie as she has a near perfect attendance record, a great attitude, and has been responsible by being the first to complete her participant manual. Mercie is truly an inspiration to the other runners at Nova!”