I Run Because I Can: A Journey Through Milestones and Medicine

By: Brandy Ciocon, 2025 and 2026 Charm City Run Race Team Member

I was never a runner. Not in the traditional sense anyway and I hated it if we are being honest.
I played sports, soccer, field hockey, gymnastics, and I did track, but I never ran over 200
meters. I was fast, but not for long periods of time. Distance running, was never on my bingo
card. But 1 ultra (never again), 15 marathons, and countless other distances, this is how I got
here.

I started smoking when I was 15, obviously that didn’t help with running. All the women in my
family die in their early 30’s. My mom is the first in 5 generations to live past 36, I am the
second. Breast cancer runs rampant and for many years, I lived like I wouldn’t live past 36. As I
got older and wiser, I realized smoking was terrible and just because it was the fate of so many
women in my family, didn’t mean it had to be mine. A friend suggested running as an outlet. I
was working as a Police Officer, a stressful job, and just life in general can be challenging. I was
diagnosed with a benign parathyroid tumor in 2013. I had it removed, and was still having
some thyroid issues, my thyroid was lazy, but after the surgery and with medication, I was good
to go. So, I randomly signed up for a 5k through work benefiting the Susan G. Komen
foundation, looking for the competitive person, I had once been. I found her that day.

I quit smoking and started running regularly. I got involved with Team RWB, an organization that
helps Veterans reacclimate to civilian life, and ran my first 10k. A friend from high school dared
me to throw in for the Marine Corps Marathon lottery in 2016. I was running regularly but
never thought about running a marathon. I had never even run a half! But never one to turn
down a dare, I did it. Much to my horror, I was selected, as was my friend. Neither of us knew
what we were doing and she was injured during training, so I was on my own. I didn’t know
anything about training or shoes or fuel, but I figured I’d just wing it. I mean how bad could it
be right?

It was awful. I finished, but I was upset about my time, 6:23, and it took me a long time to put the time aside and remember that I ran a FULL marathon. I also discovered Mission 22, an organization near and dear to my heart. I ran my first half in Richmond a few weeks later after getting involved with Meg’s Miles. I continued running for several years, Chicago in 2018 was my first World Major, Shamrock, Richmond, local races, the B3, and Marine Corps. I ran the Blue Ridge Marathon (absolutely never again) to celebrate my 36 th birthday and new lease on life having made it over that very important milestone in my family.

And then I got sick. Really sick. I lost a bunch of weight, my hair fell out, and I was having
panic attacks. The culmination being having a debilitating panic attack in the middle of the
Annapolis mall while shopping for my fiancé’s wedding ring. My heart would race, terrible back
pain, and I was exhausted. My routine labs showed my thyroid overproducing, so my doctor
cut my medication dose and said come back in a month. I did and my labs were even higher.
We stopped the medication all together and had the same result, my levels now at a dangerous
level. He advised me to make an appointment with an endocrinologist. He might as well have
suggested making an appointment with a unicorn because it would have been easier to find.

Everyone was on a 6 month wait at a bare minimum. My doctor called in a favor and my current endocrinologist was able to squeeze me in on his lunch break. He immediately diagnosed me with Graves Disease. It’s an auto immune disorder that causes your thyroid to overproduce hormones. Left untreated it can lead to a heart attack or a thyroid storm which can be fatal without immediate medical attention. Three treatment options, none of them great, but medication that might cause liver damage with long term use, RAI or radioactive iodine to kill your thyroid, or remove your thyroid completely.

I like my liver, so option A was out for me, and I didn’t want a dead thyroid in my body, all I could think about is what if it wakes up like a zombie; hard pass, so surgery was the best option for me. I had it on Valentines Day in 2022. It was smooth besides my calcium level bottoming out, but I’ve had no regrets,
that’s the fear, right? But over three years later it was the best decision I have ever made.

The side effect was my stamina. I had to start over. I had a very understanding surgeon who cut me lose 8 days after the surgery telling me that I would know my body better than she ever could. Physically, I was ok, but mentally, it was much harder to start over. I tried to give myself some grace, I still do even now. I took baby steps and ran Marine Corps later that year.

If I am tired, I rest, I am now a General Manager in a casino, so I work long hours. I still find running
hard, mentally hard, I’ve battled panic attacks, and I know it is in my head, because my numbers are in line and where they should be.

But no matter how hard it might be, I am forever grateful for all the gifts running has brought me. And I don’t mean the medals, or swag, or free bananas, but running has brought so many great people into my life. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t talk to or think about someone that running has brought me. I have matching tattoos with someone I met in the parking lot at my first MCM in 2016. Runners are a special kind of people, we just get each other and I feel very blessed despite any medical issues that I get to do this.

Simply put, I run because I can.