Kelly O'Brien
Her name is Kelly. Her last name starts with O. She’s got light brown hair, a younger brother, and loves to run. But this one isn’t about me.
I don’t know where to start with Kelly O’Brien.
I had the great pleasure of being her teammate back in our high school cross country days.
I could tell you about the time she won the mile at state track or the multiple times she was all-state in cross country or about the numerous records she broke
but, those accomplishments are merely products of the greatness inside her.
Kelly has this great enthusiasm for life that I admire a lot. She knows how to celebrate the small things and she’s always one to find the positives in sticky situations. All of these things pour into how good of both a leader and friend she is.
You can tell, she’s a smiley person, but for the picture above, I told Kelly to put her game face on like she was at the starting line, ready to show people what she’s got. And I was expecting a serious face filled with a little sass. But her smile just got bigger and bigger. Like she couldn’t contain it anymore.
I should have known that would happen. For races, she's never been one to take racing to the level of seriousness of a superhero about to fight their enemy. Nerves happen and sure, no one is 100% psyched for the idea of running so fast for so long that your lungs feel like fire and your legs want to flop. But Kelly thrives on the opportunity races give her. Hence that big smile.
During our little photo shoot, Kelly told me she wanted a picture of her flexed arms because she had been working on her push ups all summer.
Look how impressive this is. I can’t even remember how many times I’ve tried to start a push up challenge and stopped after one day.
I love the little connection we have in being given the same name and how we’ve grown that connection into a great friendship with secret inside jokes.
Potassium superoxide all the way.~kj