Meet Haylie. Most people know her as Dieu Tran, but we just know her as Haylie. Haylie is little sister, a dog lover and an avid runner. Especially an avid runner. Haylie
knows lots about running. She does it
all the time, running 5 kilometers every day except Sundays, and has done so for
the past 4 years. And Haylie is a Mormon.
Her hard work ethics started when she was a child. She grew up 200 km northeast of Hồ Chí Minh City.
“When I was a little girl my parents separated and my mom, a
devout Buddhist, had to raise us by herself. We went to school and also worked
odd jobs to help contribute to the family income. We started very young finding odd jobs after school –
babysitting, cleaning houses, handing out flyers on the street – just to help
pay for our expenses. We were teased a lot for not having a father in the home. At the age of 14,
I had to pay for all of my schooling by myself.”
 |
Haylie's mom is in the green dress.
Haylie is in the center, front, between
her two sisters. |
When Haylie’s father became terminally ill, she and her
sisters traveled to his town to be by his side. As they cared for him in his
last months, her notification for acceptance to the university arrived back
home. She didn’t read it until she
returned after the funeral months later. By then it was too late. Medical bills
had mounted and she knew she had to stay home to work and help pay off the
bills with the rest of her family.
During this time, she began attending Church.
“My sister invited me to church and I came off and on for 5
years. I really wasn’t interested at all. What finally changed for me was one day I was
feeling very depressed and exhausted. My father had died, I could not go to the
university, I felt I had no future. I fell asleep and dreamed that I just
wanted to sleep and never wake up. Then
I saw someone holding me up, helping me. When I woke up, the missionaries called and invited me back to church.
Isn’t that amazing?!”
Haylie was baptized in 2012, the only one of her immediate family to
be baptized, and soon served a mission in the Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission. Her love
for running continued during her mission and has never stopped.
“I started running 4 years ago to improve my health. I loved
it so much I just kept running. My first marathon was 4 months ago. I have now done 4
marathons in 4 months.”
Recently her running passion found her in the beautiful mountain
ranges of Sapa, near the Chinese border in northern Vietnam where her 42 km marathon took her through grueling uphill and downhill trails, scenic rice fields and ethnic minority tribes seldom seen by the outside world. This year’s run included 1700 people from 47 countries around the world. It was the Vietnam Mountain Marathon.
It also included cumulative positive vertical meters
ranging from around 600m (10km) to more than 4000 meters (100km) –
“I prepared for this run by running up and down
stairs – 200 stories of stairs each time. Plus I ran 5-10 km each day." Modestly, she adds, "It wasn’t a lot
of training.”
Dehydration is a constant threat to marathon runners. The marathon organizers had
sports drinks and energy gels along the way to keep the runners going.
“But the energy
drinks and gel had caffeine, and I was not used to caffeine, so I chose to not
take them.”
Early on, at the 8 km mark, Haylie’s legs began to cramp
up. She had to pull off the trail.
“It kind of scared me – I never had cramps
before. I didn’t want to take the
caffeine. I cried. I massaged my legs. I prayed a lot. And then – the cramps went
away. It was amazing! Later they came back off and on, but I was
still able to run. The last 7 km I had to climb one last high mountain. I was afraid the cramps would
return. But they didn't. I went up
the last mountain and down the other side without stopping and ran all the way
to the finish line. Others were tired at
this point, but I was able to finish strong.”
And the strategy paid off – Haylie came in 3rd
place for the International Division and 2nd place for the Vietnamese
Women Division.
When it comes to facing challenges, Haylie puts faith in the front. She knows first hand the meaning of the scripture: "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings of eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31
Tiger Waterfall is the closest waterfall to Đà Lạt. The falls were beautiful, and we took the ride down to the falls in a toboggan. The walk back up the trail revealed interesting cultural and scenic views.
