Runner finds community spirit by inspiring fitness

It may just seem like a big, chaotic event to some people, but the Cooper River Bridge Run and Walk changes lives.

It certainly did for Jana Glover.

At a Super Bowl party in 2000, a friend who played softball with her asked if she'd done the Bridge Run. She recalls laughing and saying, "There's no way I could run six miles."

Granted, at the time, Glover ran two miles a day, did aerobics and was a seemingly svelte 110 pounds. But she also was a stressed-out insurance adjusting manager, smoked cigarettes, drank socially and really didn't care about what she ate.

The idea of doing the Bridge Run incubated overnight, and when she awoke, she was determined to do it. Hung over, she tried running as far as she could and got to four miles. By the end of the week, she logged six miles. For consecutive weeks leading up to the big day, she ran an impressive six miles a day, six days a week.

Still, she was worried about getting over the bridge's steep grade, even though she practiced running "hills" on the Isle of Palms connector. Added to the pressure, her mom came from North Dakota and her uncle from Chicago just to be here for the occasion. She adds, "It was a big deal."

And, of course, she made it.

"It was the most amazing experience because it's such a great race, so well-attended and there are so many people who are involved and cheering," she recalls. "I remember thinking, 'I'm a runner.' After that, I started doing every single race in Charleston. I had a newfound identity."

Changing course

It was the first of numerous challenges she seized.

The next came when she received a flier in the mail that summer from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training about a marathon training program.

She went to a meeting thinking about doing a half-marathon and left with plans for a marathon. She completed the Disney Marathon in January 2001.

Until she started training for the marathon, she still smoked cigarettes. She quit because she was worried about raising money for the Leukemia Society and being seen smoking. She adds, "It wouldn't look good."

But with the training, she started making other better lifestyle changes as well.

She never used to drink water and often suffered headaches and urinary-tract infections, but she started consciously hydrating and quit drinking alcohol, saying, "It didn't fit with who I was anymore."

She ate healthier, more vegetables and no red meat, and actually gained 10 solid pounds of muscle, which she welcomed on her 5-foot-5-inch frame.

"I had been an unhealthy, underweight person," she says.

Her next challenge, triathlon, came on even quicker. Some guys kept urging her to do tris, so she set her sights on the Parris Island Triathlon in March 2001. And it wasn't without trepidation.

"My friend, Lisa (Tilton), drove with me to Parris Island. I remember seeing all the triathletes and felt so intimidated. I had an old beater bike, wore the wrong stuff and was a terrible swimmer. I wanted to turn around and go home, but she wouldn't let me."

She ended up winning first place in her age group and started entering all the local triathlons.

Meeting John

Like other midlife weekend warriors, her newfound love of training and competing coincided with a divorce.

"I didn't have any interest in dating anyone. ... I didn't trust men and didn't want to get hurt again," she says.

At a triathlon in Cheraw, John Glover asked Jana for her number. As the story goes, he knew her. She didn't really know him.

Fitting for two endurance athletes, their first date was a "brick" workout, a bike ride followed by a run, with a meal to follow at Moe's Crosstown Tavern.

Early on, she admits their relationship had bumps. She was training for a Half Ironman, and he wanted to hang out. They have since participated in several Ironman events and got married in April 2004.

"I definitely think it helped to have similar interests. We both spend so much time training that it would be difficult if one of us didn't," she says.

Mom-and-pop shop

In November 2002, John bought The Extra Mile running shop in Mount Pleasant. A half-year later, he also opened the Charleston Bicycle Company on Savannah Highway. Subsequently, he was bouncing back and forth between the stores and eventually asked Jana to quit her high-paying but stress-laden job to manage the running store. Initially, she refused because she didn't want their income to be dependent on the stores.

Just months later, her company announced layoffs, and she actually got excited.

"I wanted to be the first to be laid off, but they wouldn't do it (because the order was based on performance and seniority). I went to the company president and begged him," she says, recalling that she assured him she had a job lined up.

She operated the running store for three years until they combined the bike shop and running store in April 2007.

In a bold move during a relatively bad economy, the couple opened a second location of the Charleston Bicycle Company and Running Shop this past winter. John manages the Savannah Highway location and Jana the new store across from the popular East Bay Deli.

Glover enjoys the roles that she and her husband play in the community, which include volunteering. Jana, for example, has served as the race director for the Charlie Post Classic 15K and 5K for two years. John has served as director of the After the Bridge Run Bike Ride for a half-dozen years. Their business and their personal interests mesh seamlessly.

"It's what I feel my role in the community is," she says. "The more people we can get on bikes and in running shoes, the better. ... I know I've helped people cross the bridge. I feel like I owe it because people have helped me."