BY BRITTNEE NAVE

STAR CORRESPONDENT

For one Elizabethton educator, running has been an outlet for improving mental health.

Sarah Morris is a math teacher at T.A. Dugger.

The math teacher found her love for the subject when she was a child during her transition from homeschooling to public school.

“When I went to real school, I had a bit of a tough transition, but my 5th grade math teacher inspired me and pushed me to love math,” she said. “When I met my 9th grade math teacher, I knew I wanted to pursue teaching. She inspired us and changed my outlook on life. I wanted to become a teacher because I wanted to spend my life serving others like I’ve been put on this earth to do.”

Her growing love of mathematics also met a love for sports.

“I grew up playing basketball, volleyball, soccer, softball, and running — any sport I could get my hands on,” she said. ”In high school I narrowed my focus to volleyball, basketball, and track, but soon eliminated it just to volleyball as I was trying to earn a scholarship for college.”

Morris eventually graduated from King University, and has been teaching at TA Dugger for the past four years.

“I wanted to be a teacher because I wanted to make a difference in other people’s lives while serving them,” she said. “Humans are built for human connection, and I believe we can help make each others’ lives better if we drive on that connection. That’s what I try to do as a teacher.”

According to Morris, she remembers every class she has had over the past four years and believes they have enriched her life.

“The kids I have encountered are going to save the world,” she said. “Every person I meet that asks me about my students, I will always tell them I have the best in East Tennessee without hesitation, and I really believe it.”

It was in December of last year that Morris decided to take up running at a “dark point” in her life.

“I run for me,” she said. “That is the easiest answer. I found myself in a dark and scary place last December and knew it was up to me to get myself out of there. Teaching is hard and I think the real world forgets how hard it can be on us teachers. Teaching is my passion, but there are a lot of days when I just go home and want to beat myself up for what I’m not doing right or the best. I started running after school and found it to be a good stress relief.”

Since beginning her journey back into running, Morris has completed 10 races, finished her second marathon in Orlando this past weekend and is now working towards running 2,020 miles this year.

For Morris, running is improving her life.

“Running improves my life because it helps remind me of who I am,” she said. “Sometimes I come home from a battering day at school and I feel weak. I feel beat up. I feel not the best. Before running, I would take these feelings and become immobile on the couch or bed for the rest of the night until the following day of teaching. With running, I take these thoughts and I work through them with quiet time with God as I run. He helps remind me of who I am and that I am strong.”

Morris said she has been able to face raw emotions built up from mental health struggles and pain from surviving sexual assault as a teen as a result.

“If I’m not healthy and my best self, I can’t expect to be the best teacher I can be for my students,” she said. ”My students deserve the world and they deserve the best teacher I can be. Running helps me be who I was put on this earth to be while remembering who I am…I went from a person living in fear of doing things wrong to a person focused on how much I could do right and how much I could carpe diem — seize the day. I find myself saying ‘it is what it is’ when I make a mistake now, and I try to forgive myself.”

This past weekend, Morris competed in the Dopey Challenge Award where competitors run a 5k, 10k, half marathon and full marathon respectively in that order, in paced requirements. Morris finished in the top 60 of her age group out of more than 500 out of each race.

In addition to loving mathematics and running, Morris also comes from a family of quilters. The tradition passed down to her, and is now something she is able to sell to the Elizabethton community in the summer months when school is out.

For all her students, Morris wishes them nothing but the best and believes they are capable of anything.

“I think it’s important for people and my students to know that they are capable of anything,” she said. “I want them to know and see that they are strong. It’s been a journey for me to get beyond what has happened in my past, but it’s not something I’m ever going to just get over one day. I just carry it with me and it helps me learn and grow as a person. Any student can come from any kind of background and they are capable of overcoming who and what they are.”