Half marathon just another trial for Va. Beach woman

VIRGINIA BEACH

A couple of years ago, if Julie Burks was running, it was usually to hide from police at the Oceanfront. That's where the 52-year-old spent nights drunk on vodka, sleeping in the woods or on the beach or in the hallways of vacant apartment buildings. 

These days, Burks enjoys running. And this morning, as she competes in the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, she plans to soak in the sunlight, breathe in the ocean air and thank God that she no longer sleeps in bushes.

Burks is one of at least two runners signed up to race today who say they were homeless a little more than a year ago. Both were mentored and trained by volunteers with People in Need, a Beach-based nonprofit offering help to the homeless.

The other participant declined to share her story for fear her employer or landlord would get rid of her if they read about her formerly promiscuous life on the streets.

Julie Burks isn't guarded about her past, and Saturday she shared her story while others filtered into the Virginia Beach Convention Center for race registration.

"If I tell my story, maybe it can help someone else. I'm telling everyone who will listen."

She wasn't always so willing. About a year ago, she said, while sitting alone on the beach after downing a lot of vodka, she looked at the moon's reflection off the Atlantic and decided she was going to dive in and swim until she caught it.

"I was going to end my life.

"I didn't want to live like this anymore. I had enough of being alone, of sleeping outside. I had enough of the drinking."

But then, she said, she felt a "warm calm" come over her and changed her mind.

"I think that was God telling me everything was going to be all right."

That night, Burks said, she lay down in some bushes behind a building on 27th Street. She stayed there for three days - through cold shakes and migraines - and drank nothing but water, "forcing myself to detox," she said.

She found shelter at a church through Volunteers of America. Later, Burks sought help at People in Need, which opens its doors each weekend, offering clothing, food, medical care, hygiene supplies and temporary housing.

A volunteer offered to let her stay in a small camper parked outside her home on Baltic Avenue. Around that time she met Patti Bright, a registered nurse who volunteers with People in Need.

Bright encouraged Burks to give up smoking - she's down from two packs a day to less than one, she says - and get in shape. Burks said she liked the idea of running, and Bright agreed to train her.

"Running can do wonderful things in a person's life," Bright said. "It gives them purpose.

"I watched Julie go from a crusty, untrusting, street-smart woman a year ago to a beautiful human being, and someone who I consider a wonderful friend."

Burks feels the same.

"They took a drunk," she said, "and look who I am now."

Now she's moved out of the camper and into a bay-view apartment off Shore Drive, where she lives for free while caring for an elderly woman.

Burks is studying to get her general education diploma, she said, and would like to become a counselor for those who struggle with alcoholism and other addictions.

When she crosses the finish line off 13th Street this morning, Julie Burks isn't sure how she'll react. More than 30 homeless people who are volunteering with People in Need at water stations are expected to meet her at the finish.

She hopes they'll see what she has accomplished and try to copy it.

"If this old alcoholic can do it, anyone can."

Mike Hixenbaugh, (757) 222-5117, mike.hixenbaugh@pilotonline.com