by Annah Chaya
Jeniemarie Farrow, from Weatherly, Pa, started her journey with running in March 2019 after
she was diagnosed with postpartum depression and anxiety in the wake of her son’s birth.
Farrow made the decision to wean off the medication prescribed to her and began to start
exercising more and eating healthier.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to do something about my lifestyle because I want to get back into being
able to exercise so I don’t have to be on this medication for anxiety’,” she said. “I had never had
any kind of anxiety symptoms prior to having my son.”
Farrow began using “Beach Body,” an online fitness program, and she used their portion
program to begin losing weight while also beginning to run again.
Before having her son, Farrow typically only ran around two miles; however, after she began
working out and running again she began participating in 5Ks and 10Ks.
Being able to set realistic goals and knowing that exercising helps her well-being were reasons
Farrow continued her journey and fell back in love with running.
A friend of Farrow’s, who was also a runner and a triathlete, pushed her to continue running and
eventually try to go for longer runs.
“Our thing was if I did a half [marathon] with her, she would do a Spartan race with me,” Farrow
said.
Farrow, who grew up in Allentown and was familiar with the Lehigh Parkway and many other
area locations ran the St. Luke’s race for the first time in 2022. Farrow worked at the Allentown YMCA as a teenager. She said being able to run through the city that she grew up in brought back many memories that she used to push through the rest of the race.
“The only way I was able to run all 13.1 miles was because I was thinking back on those times, it
was kind of distracting from it being hot and being tired,” she said.
Farrow also credited the COVID-19 pandemic with her running journey and getting to the point of
running that she is currently at.
“COVID kind of probably helped my running ability because while there was not enough time to
go and do things, it allowed for time to run,” she said.
She finished in 2:01:33.
“I just hope this helps inspire somebody who’s going through what I went through because I
think it’s really prevalent, especially in women,” Farrow said.