The Diagnosis That Took Running Away

For 15 years, Stephanie Blozy traveled the country chasing tornadoes and reporting live from the eyes of hurricanes as a meteorologist for WeatherBug. From there, she went on to pursue a master’s degree in exercise science from George Washington University. She’d barely finished her degree in 2008 (she graduated top of her class, by the way) when she moved to West Hartford, Conn., and, along with her sister, Carrie Blozy, became the owner of Fleet Feet Sports West Hartford.

Out of context, it sounds like a series of random leaps into the unknown, but it wasn’t. Quite the contrary. One might even say that—despite a vast and varied background—owning a specialty run shop was precisely what Blozy was meant to do.

Amidst Run This Town filming, we sat down with her to find out why:

You ran your whole life until college. What happened?

My dad was a big runner, and so I grew up running. I ran my first race when I was 5. I went on to run in high school and a little bit in college. Running was always central to everything that I did. But then, in 1995, I was diagnosed with Lupus. My doctors told me no more running. They said that if I wanted to survive, I needed to sit and rest. I felt like I was losing a big part of my life. So I stopped exercising, and I went to depressing support groups. It was miserable.

When did you decide it was OK to start running?

When I was 25, my sister, my brother, and my dad were all running a marathon, and I went to cheer them on. It was hard to watch them without feeling jealous. I felt like I was the runner of the family. … And I couldn’t run!

Realizing this, my sister did some research about autoimmune disease and exercise and showed me all this information about the benefits. So, long story short, I found a new doctor.

At the time, my sister and I were living in DC. We went for the first long run I’d been on in years. It was a mile and a half. At the end, I felt pretty rocky. But every week we went a little bit further, a little bit further, a little bit further. Of course, it didn’t hurt that my sister bribed me. Every time we finished a long run, she gave me a present—running clothes or gear—to keep going. Later that year, we did the Marine Corps Marathon, together, with my dad.

That must have felt like such an accomplishment!

Yes! It was like I’d lost this little friend that I’d had for so long--it was a reunion.

I quickly found that the more I ran, the healthier I was, the more I could go to work, that I didn’t ache all the time. I realized that, wow, running really makes a difference! And from there, it changed everything.

How so?

Well, one evening in 2005, my sister and I started talking about opening a business. We went through a list of all the things we liked. Chocolate and running ended up on top. We realized our truffles tasted fantastic, but looked terrible, and we didn’t want to wake up at zero dark thirty to bake. So, we decided to open a running store. I wanted to help other sick people get their life back and feel the freedom that running brings.

… And that’s what we’re still doing today.

Learn more about Stephanie, Fleet Feet West Hartford, and the entire Hartford, Conn. running community.