In the early hours of Sunday morning, while many SF State students will still be wrapped up in comfortable beds, recovering from the weekend celebrations of the end of a hard week of school and studying, Michelle Taylor will stand at the starting line in front of San Francisco’s Beach Chalet and wait for the beginning of a 26-mile trek throughout the city.

Taylor, 25, a kinesiology major at SF State, will participate in the inaugural Nike 26.2, the first ever all-women’s marathon sponsored the company. The Oct. 24 marathon, whose proceeds help fund research for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, debuts an annual event that commemorates the 20-year anniversary of Joan Benoit Samuelson’s victory in the first ever all-women’s Olympic marathon in the 1984 Los Angeles Games, another moment in the fight for women’s progress.

For Taylor, the marathon represents just another milestone in her ongoing personal effort of perseverance.

“I was always forced to do everything myself,” said Taylor. “If I wanted something, I had to go buy it. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s made me realize that if I apply myself, I can do it. I’m not limited by circumstance, and that ties into the marathon running. It’s just distance.”

Taylor describes herself as self-sufficient, someone who has become successful despite obstacles she has had to endure. In fact, on first glance, one wouldn’t even suspect that she’s dealt with so much.

“She’s a very complete and solid person,” said friend Kristen Landgrede, 24.
“It doesn’t mean she’s Superwoman. She gets down, but she addresses it and fights through it.”

Growing up in the Southern California coastline town of Encinitas, which rests about 25-miles north of San Diego, Taylor said that her family life and childhood was pretty strained, as her parents divorced when she was 12-years-old. To compound the toll the divorce had taken on her, she said her father, an artist and musician who had a stint performing with famed European singer Johnny Hallyday’s band in the Sixties, has mostly been an unstable support system.

“There are no boxes with my dad,” she said. “Creatively, there are no limits. I have boxes because I think in terms of tomorrow and the day after.”
Despite the strain on their relationship as she grew up, Taylor said she has learned a lot from her dad’s instability—especially in her financial motivations.

At 16, she moved to San Francisco, and soon found a job working as an accountant for the circulating and sales at the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, when the two publications’ business operations were still combined. According to Taylor, she made good money, but her father’s girlfriend was involved with holistic health practices, and that interested her.

By the time she was 18, she was certified as a massage therapist. Eight years later, Taylor runs her own business, a Marina-district private practice where she specializes in therapeutic deep tissue massage. There, she said, she has developed a steady clientele.

“[Massage therapy] was a way to put myself through school, but I was so successful at it that turned into a career.”

Along with the busy schedule of the practice, Taylor said she also gets extra work as a massage therapist at the California Pacific Medical Center, where she works on pregnant women and those who have recently had babies.

Some of Taylor’s friends said that as they’ve gotten to know her, they have watched her persevere, and the marathon embodies the passion and drive she demonstrates for her overall ambitions.

“Twenty-six miles is a huge obstacle,” said Jason Roberts, a 31-year-old art director who has known Taylor for a little over a year. “When you’ve been through things in your personal life, this marathon is a symbol of the things she’s overcome in her life.”

In preparation for the race, Taylor has trained for four months, running 20-40 miles a week, including a 21-mile scamper two weeks ago.

“My body feels really good because of my training and rehab,” she said.

Her goal for the race, which winds through the northern parts of the city, is merely to finish, she said, but hopes to run at under a 10-minute-a-mile pace.
In August 2003, she ran a half-marathon in San Francisco in a little over two hours.

According to Taylor, these accomplishments are only the beginning, and she has no plans to slow down anytime soon. The SF State junior said she studies hard in school, striving always for straight A’s because she still has plans to further her education, possibly in hopes of becoming a doctor and chiropractor.

“[My future] pretty much depends on how well I do on the MCAT.”
Sunday’s 26-mile test awaits her first.