July Runner of the Month: Beverly Walley
Running the Fifth Avenue Mile
Beverly Walley is one of NBR’s OG members, having joined shortly after the club was formed in 2009.
“I was training for the Brooklyn Half and getting bored running by myself over the bridge and back,” she says. “One day, I tried the track for a workout and I saw a flyer to recruit people from the neighborhood into a run club. I thought, ‘Why not give it a shot?’ ”
A decade later, she’s still running with NBR. “Because I love all you crazy, fun people. What a wonderful community grew out of these weekly runs!” A former Just South Trivia run leader, she currently leads the Sunday Funday Run while also helping out with NBR’s social plans. The NBR board chose her as July’s Runner of the Month.
Running history: Bev’s been a runner ever since high school. “But shockingly, I was not the local track star.” (She has a faster mile time now at age 40 than she did at 16.) When she ran the Brooklyn Half in 2009, she found her sweet spot. “It turns out running further is a much better feeling for me than attempting to run fast.” Since then, she’s run one or two marathons a year. “Also, I ran a 60K in Central Park and survived it, but the post-run Shake Shack splurge almost took me out.”
What she does when not running: “Walk dogs. Play with dogs. Basically, encourage people to adopt a dog or dogs.”
Favorite race distance: 15K. “We need more of those!”
Best running memory: “It’s a tie—Team Russell Slimmons, Team Pool Party, Team Never Nudes!”
Team Russell Slimmons
Favorite running route in NYC: Anything involving the Brooklyn waterfront. “I’m particularly fond of the Statue of Liberty views at Red Hook’s Valentino Pier and the view of Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge Park. Or the lead poisoned Red Hook track with Louise.”
Favorite post-race food: Beer.
Favorite song to run to: “I am not restarting the great Google group headphone debate.”
How running has changed her: “I used to joke at work that you didn’t want to deal with me if I skipped my run. Running has made me a better human being. Over the years, it’s served different functions—a stress reliever, a therapist, a true friend and a feeling of freedom.”
Worst part about being a runner: “Chafing. The chafe is real.”
Best advice to running newbies: “Keep going! You have to push past the initial suck and then it is the most rewarding feeling. A lot of running is mental. It’s pain and bliss.”
Current running goal: To qualify for the Boston Marathon. “I really, really, really want to get a time that gets me into Boston.”
Bev, far left, running the Brooklyn Mile