Faces of DFAS: Running inspires employee

Photo By Mark Orders-Woempner | Pamela Wolff and her husband, Brian, cross the final finish line of The Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, Jan. 7, 2018. She overcame a number of obstacles to compete in this annual event.  

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, UNITED STATES

02.13.2018

Story by Mark Orders-Woempner 

Defense Finance and Accounting Service

INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 13, 2018 – Thump, thump. The pounding of her heart resonates through her chest. Thump, thump! Her heels rhythmically strike the pavement. THUMP, THUMP! With each beat, she draws closer to the end of a dream and continues her journey of achievements.
This is a story of Pamela Wolff, a DFAS Indianapolis Information and Technology payroll services executive assistant, who has been running through life on a journey that recently hit a milestone some would call both “Dopey” and inspiring.
Wolff completed The Dopey Challenge, which is touted as “four days of race magic” in which participants run a 5K, 10K, half marathon and full marathon back-to-back for a total of 48.6 miles at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, Jan. 4-7.
Wolff’s journey toward this achievement began after her divorce in 2009, which she said took her totally by surprise. Wanting to stay strong for her two kids, Wolff found her strength and therapy through a chance encounter.
“A friend of mine wanted to run the (Indianapolis) 500 Festival Mini Marathon and asked if I would run it with her,” Wolff recalled. “So, I joined a local half marathon training group with her, and it all went full force from there.”
While she knew the running club was going to take her to places she hadn’t been, Wolff was not expecting where it took her next.
During one of the training runs along the canal in Indianapolis, Wolff said she was introduced to her future husband, Brian, and less than a year later, he proposed at end of a race with her friends and family present. Since then, running has been a part of their lives. They even did a half marathon on their honeymoon near Boston, Massachusetts.
“Running gave me a lot of personal confidence that I could achieve anything if I just kept moving – no looking back,” Wolff said, adding that confidence led her to the Dopey challenge.
“A friend of mine had done the Goofy Challenge, which is just a half and full marathon back to back, so I wanted to do that, but then they came out with the Dopey, which is a step above,” she explained. “I wanted to do it because it was way more challenging than anything I had ever done before – I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.”
To even sign up for a Dopey challenge takes a certain amount of determination as one must register a year in advance, but Wolff’s confidence was about to be shaken.
Just as any race has its obstacles, two weeks after registering for the challenge, Wolff stumbled over one and right down a flight of stairs breaking her foot in several places. On top of that, she was eight months pregnant with her fourth child, a daughter.
“Talk about a challenge – broken foot, unable to walk and four kids, but my determination was as strong as ever,” she said.
Still, determination alone doesn’t get a runner across a finish line. It takes work, and in Wolff’s case, she said she had to work first at following her doctor’s orders. For four months she wasn’t able to run and said that even walking was a challenge.
With just a little over six months before the biggest race of her life, Wolff said she was finally cleared to run again.
“I couldn’t even run a mile, but I knew I would get there; I just had to be patient, which is absolutely not my strong suit,” she recalled. “My training progressed and my running slowly got back to where I wanted, but training for this challenge was unlike anything I had ever done before.”
While Wolff had what she calls “bling” on her walls from five previous marathons, preparing for back-to-back long runs meant she had to simulate those in her training.
“Thanksgiving weekend was a simulation weekend for me with four miles on Thursday, eight miles on Friday and 16 miles Sunday,” she recounted. “Two weeks later came another simulation with 2.5 miles on Thursday, five miles on Friday, 10 miles on Saturday and 20 miles on Sunday.
“Mentally, I was finally ready.”
While Wolff said she prepared for the mileage of the races, she found out she wasn’t as prepared for the timing of the events. All four races began at 5:30 a.m. before the parks opened, which meant she had to be up at 3:15 a.m.
The fact that her two-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter went on the trip with her meant that she didn’t get much rest after the races either.
“In spite of that, all four races went really well,” Wolff said. “We enjoyed running through the parks, stopped for pictures with characters along the way, and after the parks opened, the course was lined with spectators cheering us on, and it was a really neat environment to run through.”
After a year-long journey filled with broken bones and new life, Wolff and her husband crossed The Dopey Challenge finish line holding hands with a total time of 8:26:06 for the 48.6 miles.
“I felt completely elated and overjoyed beyond any other run I had completed,” she said. “To finish the most challenging race of my life and to share it with my husband was such an amazing experience.”
And, while it takes incredible courage, determination and drive to take on such a feat, Wolff’s co-workers said they weren’t at all surprised she was able to complete the challenge as she doesn’t just exemplify those characteristics on the track.
Prior to her current assignment, Wolff was in charge of military pay audits for SSAE16s and 18s.
“We brought her to take on system interface agreements and tell the difference between internal and external systems. She solved that problem in a week; something that should have taken years,” Kenyon Porter, Defense Joint Military Pay System-Active Component software engineers branch chief said. “I always gave her a hard time because for someone so small, she had a huge presence and would make sure everyone was getting what they needed to get done on time.”
“I think her overall work ethic has the exact same stride as her running,” Porter added. “Wherever she’s working, she has the drive to be the best at what she’s doing.”
“I think the determination and accomplishment in my personal life reflects on my work life at DFAS because I know I can do anything that I put my mind to,” Wolff agreed. “There are no challenges too great and no obstacles that I can't overcome if the desire is there.”
That desire has even inspired some of her coworkers to take up running themselves.
“I started running last week because of her,” said Porter, a retired Army sergeant first class who recently recovered from a broken leg. “Breaking her leg, having a baby and running that race, yeah, she inspired me to get back out there.”
Up next, Wolff said she’s training to qualify for the Boston Marathon, one of the most elite races in long-distance running.
“I just put one foot in front of the other and just keep going,” she concluded. “No matter how bad I feel, there's always another race to try and do better.”

• Date Taken: 02.13.2018
• Date Posted: 12.31.2018 17:35
• Story ID: 305935
• Location: INDIANAPOLIS, IN, US