Karen Thibodeaux has been a lover of the sport of running since 1985. After watching the 1984 Olympic Marathon for Women and seeing the amazing Joan Benoit (now Samuelson) win the gold medal in the marathon, Karen decided she could win a gold medal and decided to train. At the time, Karen smoked two packs of mentholated cigarettes a day. After a few times around the block, she decided that things were not going as well as planned. By 1985, Karen had "kicked the habit" and started a new one. Her first 5k was on Allen Parkway in Houston, and was run entirely on the "hills". After suffering severe shin splints and being unable to walk for several days, she decided to "hire" a coach named Al Lawrence ( a bronze medalist in the Olympic 10,000 - 1956) and told him she wanted to qualify for the Olympics someday!

With nothing but amazing encouragement from Al for many years, Karen finally ran a 3:35:09 Marathon at White Rock in Dallas, qualifying for the Boston Marathon in 1989. She has won two races overall - in Houston and Orange, and boasts a 6:11 mile. She qualified, in her first triathlon, for the National Championships Las Vegas in 1990. After a disappointing DNF in the hills, she decided that watching this event was more fun!

After running one Sunday morning, Karen and several of her best buddies were having brunch and discussing important information such as who was dating who, etc., we decided on the topic of working and everyone expressed what their true wishes were for employment, seeing as all four of us (Lynn Trafton, Georgette McNamee, and Connie Nordyke) were currently unemployed.  The conversation got to Karen and she indicated her dream job would be taking photographs of runners and triathletes.  She had no clue 'how' to start a business, but with encouragement and love from her daughter Dr. Jennifer Thibodeaux, Karen started what would become Your Sporting Image.  When you do the job you love, you never have to work a day in your life!  She hopes you are able to do the same and she hopes you enjoy seeing her photographs!