Thea Magnusson has overcome adversity. Now she's making a comeback to running.

Thea Magnusson is no stranger to adversity. She has gone through a divorce, homelessness, and other life-changing events over the last few years. In 2016 following a nightmare experience with a 50k, Thea took a break from running because of health and personal issues.

Interest in Running

Thea's introduction to recreational running began when she was in college. At Mills College, she attended a women's summer camp for trail running hosted by the s cross-country coach Sharon Chiong. "It was so much fun. We did two runs every day, then we would have a guest lecture, then we would have lunch, and then come back and have smoothies while we were sitting in the hot tub and do one more run before the end of the day. It was great," Magnusson said, adding that Chiong helped her overcome her fear of falling while running trails.

Magnusson noted that running had caused her to experience knee pain. A runner from Chiong's training camp referred her to a physical therapist, which would end up being Magnusson's future husband; he was also a runner.

"We used to run together. We used to do a lot of races together."

Thea and her ex-husband following a race in 2014

Magnusson remembered when she and her husband would go running trails together, and sometimes he'd go ahead of her, find a runner going in the opposite direction, and give the runner a message to tell her. "It was almost always I love my wife or keep going, you know, something encouraging like that," she shared. But after participating in her last two races in 2016, Magnusson saw signs that her marriage was in danger.

Taking a Break from Running

One of Magnusson's last races was the Vernonia marathon in Oregon. The marathon course is mostly downhill and features 21 miles of tree-lined shade. "There were no cars because it was on a path instead of a road, and you could run on the paved part or dirt part."In her estimation, these elements made it the perfect marathon since she hadn't run one in years.

At mile 17 of the race, she met a runner named Kelly. She was from Kansas and was running the race with her husband, who was ahead of her.

Thea and Kelly at the Vernonia Marathon with Kelly in 2016

"She told me about how they were running a marathon in all 50 states, and Oregon was number 48." Magnusson and Kelly motivated each other for the rest of the race. When they arrived at the finish line together, Kelly's husband greeted her, but Magnusson's husband wasn't there. "I was so embarrassed. He was supposed to be there," she said. Magnusson saw her husband's absence as a sign of things to come with their separation. She called the race "both an achievement and a disappointment."

Thea finishing Vernonia Marathon with Kelly in 2016

Magnusson's last race that same year was a 50k near Eugene, Oregon. It was her first ultra-marathon. Unfortunately for her, Murphy's law completely controlled her race day experience.

The shuttle van was late, and this caused her to start the race alone. The race course was poorly marked, which caused her to get lost. During the run, Magnusson was stung by wasps or bees. And to make matters worse, race officials pulled her from the race for fear of not finishing in time. Shortly after the 50k, a series of unfortunate events and health issues caused Magnusson to take a break from running.

Family and Personal Crisis

Over the last five years, Magnusson and her husband separated; she lost her job and was homeless as recently as two months ago. "During that time, being broke and being stressed, I was not interested in exercise," she said. "I would go for walks, but that's about it."

In 2021, while staying with her grandmother as her caretaker, she discovered that her father had stage 4 liver cancer. "I spent the last two months with him, and it was really precious. A few times while I was there, I went for little runs, and they kind of helped keep me stay sane."

Running again in the future

As things have begun to improve in Magnusson's life, she has set goals to run again in the near future. One of her goals is to be consistent with her morning runs. She would like to make it "a common thing" to have running as part of her early morning routine. Magnusson also expressed interest in doing more destination races and doing a race with her daughter. "I would like to do some races, possibly one with my daughter, at least one with my daughter; that'll be great."

Please listen to the RVA Running Man Podcast "EP204" to hear the interview in its entirety.