Alesha Lifka Is Finding Her Stride Through Milestones Set at the Cleveland Marathon

Though she’s not always a morning person, Alesha Lifka often wakes up before the sun to start running.

The Elyria resident is a mother of four with two jobs. It’s sometimes the only time she has for herself throughout the week.

“It's a bit of quiet,” Lifka says. “I'm alone with my thoughts. I can get away from everything else and reset.”

Before having children, Lifka’s fitness routine was more consistent, but she’s had a lot to manage since 2016, when her oldest son was diagnosed with cancer. Caring for him required much of her time and energy, and she eventually gained 100 pounds. This prompted a depressive episode that kept her stagnant for about eight years.

By 2024, her son was recovering, and Lifka found enough light to reach the end of her tunnel.

“My family went to visit my in-laws, and it was a pretty terrible time,” she recalls. “I just didn't want to get out of bed. On the drive back, I was like, This is it. All the yo-yo dieting and the cycles of ‘starting on Mondays,’ all the things that we tell ourselves, I was like, I'm not going to do it anymore.”

She began slowly. A regimented Weight Watchers program held her accountable, and she took her runs step by step.

“If I could do one lap, then I’d work on two laps,” Lifka says. “I put blinders on and just focused on wherever I was, because if I looked too far forward, I got overwhelmed and wanted to quit. I find for myself that programs that say what you do week one, week two … are easiest. It takes out the guesswork.”

By the mid-point of 2024, she was running the Cleveland Half Marathon. It wasn’t a prophetic time, but it was a finish line she hadn’t envisioned herself crossing even a year earlier.

She recently achieved her goal of losing those 100 pounds she gained as of two years ago. And this weekend, she will again run the 13.1-mile race at the 2026 University Hospitals Cleveland Marathon on May 17. The weekend kicks off on May 16 with a 5K and 10K, then a full marathon follows alongside the half on the 17th.

Lifka notes that her parents, husband and children will all be there for support at the finish line. Following the start of her wellness journey, her husband also began a Weight Watchers program, losing almost 100 pounds. Her daughter started running 5Ks, and her oldest son now runs cross country.

“My son for Christmas drew me this big picture, and it says, ‘You're my inspiration,’” Lifka recalls, choked up. “Maybe years down the road, my kids will run with their kids, and this becomes a generational thing that I've started.”

Though she’s got no specific record in mind for this weekend, Lifka is simply grateful for her ability to move like she used to as she sets herself up to run the full marathon next year. 

“I'm definitely not the fastest,” she says. “I'm the girl in the back of the pack. I’m never going to win any awards, but I’m slowly working to find that person that I lost in motherhood. I feel a little bit closer to myself when I'm done running. As long as I'm still moving forward, I'm moving towards something.”

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