For our next Runners of the Month, we have the privilege of featuring yet another amazing NRC couple – Matt and Ruth Wilkins!   If you know them, you can already see their permanently smiling faces in your mind.  Just as they are the perfect complement to each other, they bring a great mix of experience, fun, and good-spirited competiveness to NRC. 

Ruth was born and raised in Atlanta, GA. Matt also lived in Atlanta, but got there by way of Texas and Alabama.  Growing up, Ruth got tons of miles in playing travel soccer and tennis.  In the off season, she ran cross country and after a couple of tough soccer injuries, she decided to make running her sport.  Matt got his kicks in underwater on swim teams and was even Captain of his high school team.  Back then he dreaded running, but it seems he just needed the right motivation – Ruth.

If Hollywood made a romantic comedy about them, it could be called, “The 3 Day Rule.”  It was November 2012.  Jacksonville, FL.  Matt and Ruth had each moved there for work.  It was instant chemistry when their matchmaker friend introduced them at a party. They talked for hours and really hit it off. The party ended and Matt said he’d call.  

Now, listen up single guys!  You know the 3 day rule?  When a guy plays it cool and waits 3 days before calling a girl after a date?  Matt, believing it was “a thing,” decided to give it a try, but it was almost a deal breaker.

One day went by.  Then another.  Ruth was about to give up on him when she finally got Matt’s call asking if she wanted to go out again.  Unsure and a little irked, she reluctantly took him up on his invite.

She quickly saw that Matt was no “player”. They ended up talking until 2am! There was a party going on around them, but they didn’t notice.  They were in their own little bubble.  Matt found out later that Ruth got up the next day at 5:30am and ran a 20-miler!  In all their talking, she didn’t even mention it! 

Once he knew Ruth ran, Matt’s aversion magically faded and he started running to hang out with her more.  Ruth kept telling him he should join this great running club.  The group, known as PRS, actually reminds them a lot of NRC!  With about 300 runners, they represent just about every pace and level, and offer scheduled runs for people to meet and train.  

After joining PRS, Matt went from not running at all to completing his first full marathon, The Flying Pig (Cincinnati), in 18 months.  Determined to see it through, even with an injured knee, he hobbled across the finish line.  He says that memory has never gone away.  For a long time, he was intimidated by the marathon distance.  But, he plans to create a new, epic memory to put in its place at the Carmel Marathon this spring.

Ruth loves running and has done a lot of different races over the years, from road to trail and 5K to ultra.  Just a few weeks after they started dating, Ruth completed her first 50K comprised of five 10K loops.  Matt went along to support and laughs that he was winded just keeping up with her for the 100ft it took to hand her water or fuel!  She crushed that race taking 1^st place female by 35 minutes!  She since has completed another.

Ruth may be fast, but she loves the whole chill, ultra racer mentality.  She jokes about how at 5Ks people do sprint warm ups, butt kicks and rush around, but that at ultras it’s the total opposite.  Runners just stroll up with a cup of coffee, hang out, talk, and then look at each other and say, “Alright, you want to start this thing?” 

Chill is also a word that describes Matt, who flies single-engine planes for fun.  He currently works in avionics (electronic cockpit component sales and installation).  Friends, and Ruth, agree he is one of the most likeable, happy people on the planet! He’s always ready for an adventure, spontaneous (in a good way) and pretty much the life the party.

Ruth says she’s typically the “Mom” of the group socially.  She doesn’t mind.  She finds it natural to clean up, organize and plan things.  She’s also a happy and willing designated driver.  She uses her math degree doing highly-detailed work for Hershey, and has already put in a good word to get a trail runner campaign going for their peanutty, PayDay bars!  She loves her job which allows her to work from home and catch lunchtime runs with fellow NRCer Eric Waterman.

Before they moved to Nolensville in 2016, Ruth had already found NRC on facebook.  It was right after the NRC Holiday Party and the photos on the Facebook page looked like a fun crew!  So, one cold, nasty Wednesday in January 2017 they left their unpacked boxes and headed to NRC.  Scott came up and introduced himself, and it was sealed!  They’ve been regulars ever since.

Matt enjoys any race where he gets to see Ruth run and hear people’s reactions to her accomplishments.  He jokes that, “she glistens, she doesn’t sweat.” For Matt, on the other hand, it is pretty obvious when he has been working out (i.e. his dying goat stride to the finish of the Nolensville 5K which Ruth helped him PR).

Matt, who was originally a 10 min/mile or more pace, was encouraged by NRCers Amy Klotz, Michael Teague, Fast Andy, Kyle Prince and Preston Johnson to pick it up.  Now, he keeps up easily with some runs in the 8:30s.  

Many of Ruth’s favorite NRC memories center around her Boston qualifying journey.  From training with NRC, which she says gave her the push to BQ, to traveling with the crew to Boston in 2018 and running the race, and even touring the Harpoon Brewery after and everything in between, she says it all was an incredible experience.  “You might not realize, but there is a lot of gear dropped on the road at Boston.  It’s everywhere and so it’s hard to look up, but it has the best spectators,” says Ruth,  “The whole time you’re there the city celebrates you!”

Matt has great memories of living in a van for 24+ hours running the 2017 TN Ragnar with the NRC Sole Crushers!  He made some great friendships that weekend with teammates, Joe Relyea, Jay Adamson, Katherine Cain, and others.  Oh and he definitely recommends doing the race with Ragnar Ambassadors, Stephanie Spann and Terrie Peterson, who are AWESOME at showing first-timers the ropes of this non-stop rollercoaster of a race!

Of course, all the planning in the world can’t help you if you register for the wrong race!  After hearing everyone talk about Downhill at Dawn, Ruth Googled races in June near Asheville.  She didn’t expect there could be two races on exactly the same day.  Turns out, there was and the other one was not “downhill”!  Of course, their friends still joke about it and if Ruth mentions any race they have to ask – “the real one?!”

That’s the thing about NRC!  Like a family, we may raz you when the opportunity presents itself, but we also raise you up for your achievements – big and small – along the way!  For all the good things they bring to NRC, we are so excited to celebrate Ruth and Matt Wilkins and look for lots more good things to come!    

ROTM Speed Round – Ruth Wilkins

I run, therefore I: eat and drink, what I want.

What is your favorite race fuel?  Stinger waffles (gluten free)

Top Must-Run Race?  New York Marathon (my birthday weekend)

Most scenic run?  Salt Lake City – Revel Big Cottonwood (BQ)

If I didn’t run, I would: still workout and be active

ROTM Speed Round – Matt Wilkins

I run, therefore I: hang out with my wife.

Favorite race fuel:  Sport beans

Top Must-Run Race:  Any race I can travel and see the sights

Most scenic run: Rome running tour – no tourist traps! Cool way to see a city.

If I didn’t run, I would: weigh 400 lbs