Adirondack Sports May 2023

ATHLETE PROFILE
WORKFORCE
TEAM
CHALLENGE
2022.
HIKING WHITEFACE
SUMMER 2021.
MAY 2023 15
Caitie
Meyer
VIRTUAL WILMINGTON
WHISKEY RUN 2021 AT THE
CORNING PRESERVE PATH.
AGE: 31
FAMILY: Jack Nolan, fiancé; Gregg Meyer and
Bonnie Blanchfield, parents; Ian Meyer, brother
RESIDENCE: Albany, moving to Boston soon
HOMETOWN: Weston, Mass.
A Passion for Running
and Healing
By Linda Waxman Finkle
PROFESSION: Resident Physician-Internal Medicine,
Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, Mass.
VOLUNTEER: Koinonia Primary Care, and Project
Safe Point, both in Albany
OTHER SPORTS: Cross-Country Skiing, Downhill
Skiing, Cycling, Hiking
CAITIE’S FAMILY AT
THE RUN TO HOME
BASE THAT FINISHES
IN FENWAY PARK.
2023 BOSTON
MARATHON.
MATCH DAY 2023
WITH JACK.
Caitie Meyer’s love of running began as a youngster,
while participating in her family’s yearly tradition of
completing the Troy Turkey Trot. With parents who
prioritized exercise (her mom was pregnant with her while
training for a marathon) and a brother who provided healthy
competition, it was almost inevitable. She played soccer in
junior and senior high school, but decided to try cross-country
running her senior year after being sidelined with an
injury. “The team had a great coach, and I thought that I
could be good. I saw myself improving quickly, and that I got
out what I put in,” she recalls. While still in high school, she
also began running what would become her favorite race,
the Boston Marathon – the first time when she was just 17, as
a fundraiser for scholarships for her school, and the second
as part of a charity team for Massachusetts General Hospital.
At Dartmouth College, she competed with the school
team through sophomore year, but stopped when it interfered
with her studies and didn’t offer a positive environment. She
continued to run on her own, completing the Vermont City
Marathon, the San Francisco Marathon, and the California
International Marathon. Breaking three hours was one of her
goals, and she achieved it the first time at the Nottingham
Christmas Marathon in England, where she had moved to
pursue a master’s degree in Health Policy, a year before medical
school. She then also ran the London Marathon in 2:55.
During those years, the Boston Marathon was still in
Caitie’s sights, and she once again ran it for an organization
that was important to her, Boston Health Care for the
Homeless, which provides services to over 10,000 individuals
every year. As of today, she has completed it 12 times, with a
PR of 2:53 in 2019.
She has also just realized another one of her dreams –
becoming a physician, like her father, graduating Albany
Medical College, and preparing to move to Boston to begin a
three-year residency in internal medicine, possibly followed
by an additional year focused on geriatrics. “I love the social
complexity of helping older adults access both the medical
and social care that they need. As individuals get older, our
WITH WILLOW STREET
TEAMMATES AFTER
FREIHOFER'S RUN
FOR WOMEN 2022.
society doesn’t take care of them as it should,” she says. “I’ve
always been close with my grandparents and think about
how their care can be improved.”
While in medical school, she regularly volunteered in the
Koinonia Primary Care in Arbor Hill, which provides primary
care and mental health care in Albany’s poorest neighborhood.
She was also involved with Project Safe Point, whose
areas of focus include needle exchange, overdose prevention,
and HIV screening. Not surprisingly, two of her heroes are
Dr. Jim O’Connell, President of Boston Health Care for the
Homeless, and Dr. Andrew Coates, a hospice and palliative
medicine specialist at Albany Med, and she cites both for
their selflessness and inspiring work.
Another hero is her father, Dr. Gregg Meyer, who has
served as a role model and motivator, by exercising daily
while encouraging Caitie to push herself to set a goal and
work on it consistently. That started when she was 10 years
old, as the family was preparing to move from Washington,
DC to Massachusetts. Back then, her hero was Mia Hamm,
and she longed to join the soccer team at her new school. Her
dad suggested that she run two miles every day to get in good
shape. And, while she admits that she cried initially, she also
acknowledges that her dedication clearly paid off.
A few weeks ago, she was the top local Boston Marathon
female finisher at 2:54:01, her 10th Boston Marathon in a
row. In 2022, she had the fastest female time in the CDPHP
Workforce Team Challenge in more than 10 years which was
20:16, was eighth overall at the Freihofer’s Run for Women
5K at 17:27, and third female overall in the Troy Turkey Trot
10K in 36:06.
Over the last few years, Caitie has run with the Willow
Street Athletic Club team, as well as the running club at
Albany Med, and has enjoyed the collegiality of these communities.
And, although the marathon is her favorite distance
to prepare for because of the structured training over a
long period of time, she also enjoys the half-marathon, and
appreciates the joy of an all-women’s race like the Freihofer’s
5K. Her running heroes include those individuals who have
attained running greatness while also holding down a regular
job, such as Sarah Sellers, the nurse anesthetist, who trained
before and after her shifts, and took second place in the 2018
Boston Marathon.
In addition to working as a primary care physician,
Caitie also hopes to work on health care policy, focusing on
improving systems within healthcare, removing barriers, and
reaching populations that are underserved. “People’s ability
to achieve good health is often not just based on medicine,”
she says. Over the next month, though, before she starts her
residency in June, she will take some much-needed time to
relax, including a trip to Portugal with her fiancé, where they
plan to enjoy cycling.
When she moves to Boston, in addition to missing some
of our great ice cream shops, like Kurver Kreme and Jim’s
Tastee-Freez, Caitie mentions her favorite place to run, the
Albany County Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail. But, there’s a
very good chance that we will see her back here many times,
not only to visit her mom’s family, and to see her many
friends and colleagues, but also to try to beat her time in the
Freihofer’s 5K, one of her current running goals.
As she has been inspired by her own heroes, Caitie
Meyer’s commitment to running and to improving the health
care of those less fortunate inspires all of us. We wish you only
the best, Caitie, and look forward to hearing about all of your
future accomplishments!
Linda Waxman Finkle (lwf518@gmail.com) is a writer
and kayaking instructor in Albany. She also enjoys skiing,
pickleball, Zumba, and reading, and has just completed her
first musical comedy about divorce.