When Shannon Jones lines up at the starting line for Daytona State College, she doesn’t look much different from her peers.
But while Jones is fit and fast, she has another big advantage over her competitors: the wisdom that comes with age. At 37, Jones has become a standout cross-country runner at the junior college level, turning an uncertain past into a promising future as a student-athlete.
Growing up, Jones was immersed in the world of sports. Soccer was her passion, but the sport she was born into was running—she comes from a long line of runners on both sides of the family, and she casually raced 5Ks and ran track in high school.
While soccer became Jones’s focus, that career reached a breaking point in her senior year of high school, and she decided not to play at the next level. She went on to attend Polk State College but returned to her Florida hometown amid her parent’s divorce, feeling lost and without direction, a feeling that ultimately led to years of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.
“I was an adult, but I didn’t feel like an adult,” Jones told Runner’s World. “I was still a child in a lot of ways. Because my parents were going through so much, we didn't have any direction. I completely stopped sports. I felt kind of failed at the time.”
The turning point in Shannon’s life came several years later when she unexpectedly found herself pregnant six months into a new relationship, a reality that forced her to confront her lifestyle choices. Determined to make change for the better, she quit smoking and began a journey that would ultimately lead her back to running. While pregnant, she started walking at the local middle school track and remembers being inspired by a local run club’s workouts.
“After [my son] was born, I was an emotional wreck,” Jones recalled, reflecting on a 30-hour labor followed by postpartum preeclampsia. “I knew I couldn’t continue with my old lifestyle. I decided to start exercising, and running was calling me.”
Jones’s journey moved from walking to jogging and eventually to running again. As soon as she ran her first mile, it became clear that her body was meant to run again. “I loved every moment of it,” she said. Before she knew it, Jones was pushing her son, Jack, in a jogging stroller and decided that her next goal was to get faster.
After running a 20:01 5K in high school, Jones set her sights on running sub-20, thanks to an online training plan. In her unofficial attempt, running a measured course in her neighborhood, Jones ran 19:58. (She’s since winnowed that down to 17:50.)
The focus on speed paid off as Jones started competing in—and winning—local 5Ks, catching the attention of the coach at Daytona State, Judy Wilson. Wilson asked Jones about her college running experience and was surprised to discover that she still had eligibility to compete in college. With just one class left to complete her associate’s degree, Jones was offered a full scholarship to compete on Daytona State’s cross-country team.
Overcoming her initial doubts, Jones joined the team at the age of 36, suddenly facing the challenges of being a mother, wife, and student-athlete. Since then, her teammates have quickly embraced her as the “cool aunt.”
Jones has become a leader for the team, earning All-American honors in cross-country and the half marathon, as well as being named the 2022 NJCAA Division II Region Champion, FCSAA Runner of the Year, and USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Runner of the Year. While she’ll finish her bachelor’s degree this spring, Jones is considering continuing to run in pursuit of her master’s.
Through motherhood and rediscovering her love for running, Jones found her path to redemption and self-discovery. “When I became a mother, there was a point where I thought my own life and identity was sort of lost forever,” Jones said. “My son is my biggest focus, but I now know that doesn’t mean I can’t live my own life with my own passions.”
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Condé Nast Traveler and was most recently the senior editorial director at TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
