From Hopeless to Grateful 7 Half Marathons at a Time
Reclaiming inner strength through friendship and running with Kim Komo
Kim Komo is a cardiac nurse and runner from California. As a Covid nurse, wife, and mother of three, Kim was pushed to the brink during the pandemic, but unconditional friendship helped her heal. Then, a journey around the world and a dedication to running uncovered an inner strength she’d forgotten she had. Her story will inspire anyone who had to fall apart to build a more authentic life.
What brought you to nursing?
My dad was a doctor, and my stepmoms were nurses. So, right after college, I went to nursing school. I became a cardiac nurse, and I’ve been doing it for 24 years.
I love it. But when Covid hit, I had a hard time. My unit cared for Covid patients every day. My story is no different than anybody else’s. I just had a hard time watching people die every day. I wish I could say I was strong, but I wasn’t.
Mentally, after two years, I fell apart. I was a shell of myself. I’d watch these people die, then come home and try to raise three kids and pretend everything was great. And then, try to stay married. It was the catalyst for ending a marriage already having a hard time. It all brought me to my knees.
Strength is also feeling everything and recognizing your limits.
I think anyone who goes through trauma has to do it. Soldiers go to war, and then they’re supposed to come home and just be fine. I came home, and I just cried a lot.
Were you already a runner, or did nursing during Covid lead to it?
I’ve always been a runner, I think I’d run 10 marathons at that point. I could be fast if I really tried, but I’m pretty average. When my kids were little, I loved running; it felt like freedom. But then it started to feel more like a chore. I still ran during Covid; I mean, it was the only thing we could do.
How did you come to run The Great World Race?
During Covid, I was also going through a divorce. It was a lot to handle all at once, and I got to such a low place where I felt so alone.
My girls saw me fall apart. They were used to seeing me stronger. There were days I couldn’t get out of bed. Some days, brushing my teeth was too much. I still worked through it all, but I was a shell of who I once was.
But I have a group of really good girlfriends from different stages in my life. They basically loved me back to health. They said, “You are ok. Remember who you are. This is a snow globe, let it settle.”
I will forever love all these women. They truly got me through a time when I didn’t think it would get better. But it did; the snow globe of chaos settled.
I was turning 50 this year when my friend sent me a link and said, “Look at this race.”
And I said, “Oh, I’m going to do this for myself!”
Everyone thought it was a joke. How could you really run seven half marathons on seven continents in seven days?
But after everything I’d gone through, I honestly think it was my way of saying, I feel strong again. I’m going to finish this and show that I can do hard things. So I signed up.
For me, I only wanted to finish it.
But you did more than finish it.
I ended up winning every half marathon, and I made a world record.
How has being a Covid nurse (going through a divorce) and running The Great World Race impacted your life?
When people say, “Oh, that’s great you did the world race!” It didn’t come without going through a really dark time. As much as there were friends who showed up for me, there were other people in my life who didn’t. Who made me feel bad about myself and who doubted I could put my life back together.
TGWR fueled me to prove to myself, and people who doubted me, that I could do it. That I could be strong. And it doesn’t mean I’m perfect, and it certainly doesn’t mean I’m fixed. But even if I am broken, I’m worthy of love.
After going through such a low time with Covid, divorce, and my mental health, I learned how to put up strong, healthy boundaries. Whether I lost my voice in my marriage, as a Covid nurse, or as a pleaser, I found it again. I found myself, and I don’t need validation from others.
Going through this has brought my daughters and me even closer because there’s nothing they can tell me that would change how I feel about them. I tell them, “Come into my house, shut the door, I will wipe your tears, I got you.”
That’s the person I want to be and the mom I want to be. It’s really important to have empathy and kindness when someone is going through a hard time.
I also realized I can’t do it all, all the time, for everybody.
Yes, I went through that realization during Covid, and then cancer. It’s unsustainable to caregive all the time. I had to let things fall through the cracks and let my family figure it out.
Mel Robbins has a lot to say about this. In Let Them, she talks about how, when you change, it’s not just your change. Others have to look at themselves, too, and it makes them uncomfortable.
Somewhere along the line, I lost my belief in myself. I think that happens a lot with women, with wives, with mothers. We kind of get beaten up emotionally.
We get buried under things and don’t know where we went. This was intensified during Covid.
And then, if we react, we’re called hysterical.
What we react to might not be the actual problem, so there’s a mismatch of reaction and inciting incident. Like, where is this coming from?
Well, let me tell you. How long do you have?
Long-term relationships require adjusting. It’s too long to be with someone without reestablishing how you’ll move forward. I think Covid highlighted this for many of us.
When I got married, I was young, and I thought, I’m going to make dinner every night, I’m going to be the perfect Betty Crocker! Then you fast forward twenty years, and it’s like, “I’m tired of this shit!”
YES!
Did your nursing background influence how you trained for TGWR?
Going through such uncomfortable times at work while also going through a divorce made me feel comfortable being uncomfortable. I’m not constantly looking for euphoria or happiness. I’m looking for calm and to be centered in myself and in my head. Once I get that, I can tune out the outside noise and pain.
With the running, it was freezing in Antarctica and 100 degrees in Columbia, but once I got used to those pains, went through the motions, and stayed centered, I knew I was strong and taking care of myself. It was like a physical metaphor for what I went through mentally. Ok, it’s a storm, but it will pass.
I knew the race would end. Then, before you knew it, I won. And set a world record. Everything I’d been through helped me stay focused, just one step at a time.
During the race, we all hurt so bad. We had blisters, and some went to the hospital. But nobody complained because we knew what we were getting into. We felt lucky to get to be there. Three years ago, I thought I wouldn’t make it. Just take me, I’m out. But now, I’m just so grateful to be here to have this experience—to be able to run at all.
By the end of Covid, I was resentful, ungrateful. I lost perspective. When I hit rock bottom, I had to just bet on myself and love myself to believe in myself again.
You learned a lot about yourself from the low lows, but also by finding a way back and all the steps you took to get there.
Yes. And also, thank god for good girlfriends!
How has nursing influenced you?
When people asked why I needed to do TGWR now, I thought of seeing illness in patients my age. It’s not a given how long I have. I see people who are so grateful for good health outcomes and realize right at this moment I am healthy. I have more of a “do it now” attitude.
I have so much love for the people who nursed me back to health when I fell apart. I want to pay that forward. Whether someone is dealing with anxiety, depression, or illness, I want to be that friend and that nurse. I’ve slowed down. I take my time with my patients—get them a blanket, talk to them. I want to be that warm hug.
How do you hope your experience nursing and participating in TGWR inspires others?
Believe in yourself. You have to pause sometimes, whether it’s a moment, or a day, or a month. Take time to regroup, rest, and build yourself back up—to be the person you know you are. We need to not be so hard on ourselves. People are going to either love you or not love you. So just be you. Give yourself grace.
Women especially need to support other women. When we start to lose ourselves, step back and make healthier boundaries. Make time for yourself. It’s ok to nap. It’s ok to call in sick. Sometimes you just need a break; I did. I didn’t take it, so I broke down.
Now I have so much energy, and I feel good because I’m loved by the right people. I want to be the best I can because I’m being loved better, and I love myself better. Mel Robbins also says something like, “It’s not your job to defend the version of what someone else thinks of you.”
Don’t try to be the person someone else wants you to be.
Who inspires you?
My daughters. They inspire me to be a better person every day. They’re the ones who inspire me to work on myself and be the best version of myself. They are my why.
Turning 50, life inspires me. When I was just plodding through, I didn’t realize how much was out there. Now, I want to live each day. I wasn’t grateful, but now I’ve shifted to living a grateful life.
What fills your heart with joy?
My daughters. And my fiancé. He makes me laugh every day. I’m so thankful for the laughter we have at home.
What breaks your heart?
People having a hard time by themselves. Whether it be depression or just the loneliness of it all. And just the fear. It breaks my heart when people have lost hope. I was there; I get it.
The last question needs a little backstory. When I taught kindergarten, we did this project where the kids made maps of their hearts. They cut out tagboard and drew important "special" things in their heart. My oldest put our ice cream truck driver in his. I'll never forget. His teacher said, "I don't know if I should tell you this. The grandparents didn't make it, but the ice cream man did."
So I'd like to close with this question.
In the map of your heart, name a person, a place, and a thing that would be in it. Why?
My family. My three girls, stepsons, and fiancé. My family of seven—they mean everything to me.
My home because it’s now so full of love and it’s a really safe place. It used to be something I had to hold up, but now it’s a place I can be authentically loved for myself.
And my health. You’ve got to love that.
No truer words. Thank you, Kim!
A book and a song:
Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor’s Unlikely Adventure
Tap Dancing on Everest is gripping and heartwarming, with a page-turning balance of excavating the past and trekking forward (sometimes perilously as a med student and the only woman on her team). Zieman’s story is one of adventure, self-discovery, and learning how to trust your own voice.
My voice guided me to the wilderness, and there, in that silence and effort and pure mountain air, I lost myself and found myself again and again, sometimes several times a day. - Mimi Zieman
More about Mimi and her book here.
"Build It Up" by Ingrid Michaelson
I’ve been a long time Ingrid fan and seen her live many times, but I first heard this song on the TV adaptation of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere. To me, it was about finally having the courage to pull away from the thing that keeps us smaller than we are—finding our own voice.
Ingrid talked about writing the Emmy nominated song in an interview for Variety.
The world has this reset button that has been set on us and we are forced to metaphorically burn it down and to build it back up again. - Ingrid Michaelson
Full backstory with creator/director/producers of LFE here.
Song only here.
Kim’s picks:
The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
“A Lot More Free” by Max McNown
The Heart of the Matter:
❥ It’s ok to fall apart.
❥ Strength can look like feeling everything while waiting for the snow globe to settle.
❥ Being loved by the right people can be truly life-changing.
❥ Doing it all, all the time, for everybody, is unsustainable.
❥ If you start to lose yourself beneath the chaos of life, it’s ok to pause. Take a nap. Call in sick. Sometimes you just need a break.
❥ Even at our most broken, we are worthy of love.
Coming Up:
Do you know someone who would be a perfect fit for Heartmatters? Get in touch.
Enjoying Hearmatters? Let me know in the comments, and share with friends.
Jacque Gorelick is an essayist who writes about family, motherhood, health, and estrangement. Her debut memoir, Map of a Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Finding the Way Home, is forthcoming with Vine Leaves Press (February 2026). You can find more about her work here.
Thanks so much for spending part of your day with me.
❤️ Jacque
I cannot wrap my head around 7 half marathons in a row! Love the snow globe concept. Feels like our whole world is a snow globe rn. Great interview - so inspired!
Excellent post, Jacque! What an inspiring story. And the Mel Robbins book is on my library hold list but it's so popular I'll have to wait months. Thanks for sharing!