An ULTRA Heart

Honoring the Legacy of My Dear friend, and Inspiration

Her Legacy Will Live On in Runners Across the Globe

Elaine tragically passed away on Friday, July 11, at 10:27 AM while competing in the Hardrock 100-mile Ultramarathon in Colorado. Even writing that still doesn’t feel real.

Her passing was sudden and devastating, leaving an emptiness that stretches far beyond those of us who knew and loved her personally. Elaine belonged to the running community in a way that is difficult to put into words. She ran across cities, states, countries, mountains, trails, and finish lines around the world. When the news of her passing reached Runner’s World, they honored her life and presence within the sport too.

But Elaine was so much more than the races she finished. She absolutely treasured life.

Running was one of the ways she expressed that. It was her passion, her ministry, and one of the ways she connected with people wherever life carried her. She competed in ultra-distance races around the globe, on trails and roads alike, while completing countless marathons across the United States. Her recorded ultra résumé is breathtaking, and somehow still doesn’t capture everything she accomplished. Neither do the miles.

Because Elaine paid attention to the people along them.

As she traveled the world to run, she would send me photos of running groups she came across in different cities and countries. People gathering. People moving together. Communities being built around something as simple and powerful as putting one foot in front of the other. She noticed that. And without realizing it at the time, I was paying attention too.

Elaine became one of the greatest inspirations behind what would eventually become our Run Club. Before City Sweat Club had a community running through the streets together, before Wednesdays became ours, before I fully understood what could happen when you simply created a reason for people to meet and move—Elaine was showing me.

Through her own life, she showed me that running could take you somewhere far beyond a finish line. It could introduce you to people you otherwise may have never met. It could create friendships across cities and across the world. It could give someone a place to belong. It could turn strangers into community.

That stayed with me.

Elaine was also my very first personal training client. We immediately connected, and for more than four years, I had the privilege of being part of her preparation for ultramarathons—building strength, developing endurance, boxing together, talking through life, laughing, working, and preparing her body for distances most people would never even consider attempting. Somewhere between all of those reps and all of her miles, she became much more than a client.

She became family to me. A mentor. A mother figure. An incredibly close friend. Someone whose belief in me, generosity toward me, and presence in my life helped shape the person—and leader—I would become.

Elaine carried that same heart everywhere. She built community naturally. She forged friendships wherever she went. She supported people however she could. She gave freely. She lived her faith as a God-fearing woman, not simply through what she said, but through how she showed up for people.

And she was a mother. She leaves behind three beautiful daughters and two dogs who knew the depth of her care and devotion. There are people across this world who knew Elaine in different ways, from different races, different seasons, different cities and different miles—and somehow, I imagine many of them would describe the same woman: generous, strong, adventurous, faithful, full of life.

And stylish as hell.

Because we also have to tell the truth: Elaine would have been an absolute menace on a runway. Her fashion was iconic. She could run an ultramarathon and still somehow remind you that the look mattered. That was Elaine. Strong enough to take on 100 miles, yet never losing the parts of herself that made her unmistakably her.

This loss hurts in a way I still don't completely know how to explain. But when I look at what has grown from the seeds she planted in my life, I can see her.

I see her when our community meets to run. I see her when someone shows up alone and leaves knowing somebody's name. I see her when we wait for the person in the back. I see her when movement becomes the introduction and community becomes the reason someone returns. I see her in the very idea that movement can move people.

City Sweat Club exists to move people, serve people, and do good. And long before I had the words for that mission, Elaine was living pieces of it right in front of me. She showed me what could happen when people were invited in. She showed me how big the world becomes when you're willing to move through it. And she showed me what it means to keep going.

There will never be another Elaine. But there will be runners across this world carrying pieces of her story without even knowing it. There will be miles run because she inspired someone to start. Communities formed because she showed someone what was possible. People encouraged because the generosity she gave to others taught them to give it forward.

And right here in Detroit, there will continue to be a group of people putting one foot in front of the other because a woman who ran all over the world once inspired me to bring people together and run through our own city.

So we will. For Elaine.

Her legacy will live on in every rep, every step, every mile—and every person we continue inviting to move alongside us.