Hello friends! My name is Anne Halliwell. You may have seen me at Stroller Strides classes or Run Club with my almost two year old son Charlie. We are usually the last ones to arrive, and, unfortunately, I typically can’t blame it on Charlie.
My husband’s name is Matt. He’s an E2 Hawkeye pilot in the Navy. We met in college at Penn State. Somehow, we managed to have mutual friends the entire time we were there but did not meet until our senior year. I was a forensic science major, and he was an aerospace engineer in ROTC. When Matt went off to flight school, I took a job in Virginia.
I have actually lived in Virginia longer than anywhere else in my life, even though I did not grow up here. My dad was in the Army, and I moved ten times before high school. I consider Pennsylvania my home, but I’ve lived in Virginia much longer (11 years).
My first job out of college was at the FBI laboratory in Quantico. I worked in the Nuclear DNA Unit examining evidence for blood and semen and doing DNA extractions. I had the opportunity to work on some high profile cases, and I pretty much couldn’t believe I was there the entire time. I worked in the crime lab for four and a half years while Matt traveled around for flight school. He eventually made it to Norfolk, and we got engaged. When we got married, I moved down to Norfolk. We’ve been here ever since. I worked in the Hampton Roads Sanitation District’s water lab for a while. Then I was a knitting teacher, and I eventually settled into working as a one year old class teacher at a local Navy daycare. After Charlie was born, I worked part time at the daycare for a little while, but eventually decided to stay home with him.
I started going to Stroller Strides when Charlie was about three months old. I decided to give it a shot since I was dying to get out of the house and pretty much had no idea how to exercise with a baby around. I haven’t looked back. I’m so happy to have this group of supportive moms in my life. And the icing on the cake is that I’ve increased my fitness level and become a runner. Thanks to participating in several Run Club sessions, I went from not running at all to eventually completing a half marathon! I can’t imagine what it would have been like to go through my first couple years of motherhood without you ladies. Thank you for being the open, encouraging, and generally badass ladies that you are!
