For half marathon runner Lacey Craig, the toughest races she’s faced never started at a finish line. She was already pushing her limits working long hours in retail, raising her daughter on her own, and saving every extra dollar for her daughter’s education. Her days were less about chasing milestones and more about simply staying on her feet.
Then, in 2017, a health scare forced her to confront how strong she really was. She laced up a pair of running shoes and began training for her first race. But even as her pace quickened, one goal continued to weigh on her: earning a master’s degree.
When Lacey’s daughter was just two, she cleared her first major hurdle, earning her bachelor’s degree from another institution. Still, as a single parent, prioritizing something just for herself felt impossible.
“I always knew I wanted to go back to school and get my master’s degree to really position myself for my career and support the two of us,” she says.
But the tension between investing in her future and securing her daughter’s made the decision feel out of reach.
“I didn’t have the financial ability to do that at the time,” she explains. “I felt like it was more important to save money for her. So, I postponed it — or really, I accepted that I would never go back and get my MBA.”
Then a new opportunity opened to her.
Finding the Right Pace through Education
Lacey’s career path wound steadily: first retail, then HR, until she finally found an opening at T-Mobile. Through T-Mobile’s partnership with the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC), Lacey finally saw a path forward. She enrolled in the MBA program, more than 16 years after completing her bachelor’s degree, and found an entirely new rhythm.
“The ability to take advantage of the education grant through my employer, T-Mobile, in partnership with UAGC, was life-changing for me — something I didn’t think would ever be possible,” she explains.
T-Mobile employees can earn a college degree online at UAGC while working full time. Combined with her employer’s tuition assistance, the full tuition grant initiative covered Lacey’s tuition costs.
“That's the only reason I was able to go to school, because my daughter was actually in college at the time,” she says. “So, no way was I trying to pay for her to go to school and pay for me to go to school at the same time.”
Watch Her Story
A Family Affair
“Programs like this can make a big difference,” she continued. “Some jobs require a degree, and not everyone can afford one. I was a very young single parent; there was no way I could afford to go back to school. Programs like this can change people’s lives.”
The opportunity carried personal meaning as well. Lacey was the first woman in her family to earn a master’s degree. Not only that, her father had graduated from the University of Arizona years earlier, also through a tuition-supported program while serving in the military. Continuing her education through a connected institution felt like carrying forward a family tradition.
“I felt proud to continue my education at a place tied to my family,” she says. “If I was going to do this at this point in my life, I wanted it to come full circle.”
A young Lacey Craig, center, celebrates with her family after watching her father graduate from the University of Arizona.
The Uphill Stretch
Lacey started at UAGC while her daughter was also in college, a feat she never thought possible. The online format quickly became more than a convenience; it became a lifeline. That impact became even clearer when, just weeks before graduation, Lacey’s health scare had returned: endometrial cancer.
Despite the devastating diagnosis, she pushed through her final courses, walked in commencement in 2024, and underwent surgery two weeks later.
“It meant everything to have the flexibility to do school remotely,” she says. “I didn’t have to take time off while going to doctor’s appointments and biopsies. And then to graduate, have surgery, and come out the other side, it was huge.”
Surviving cancer didn’t slow her down. It sharpened her focus. She emerged with a renewed sense of strength, the kind that runners recognize when they break through the wall and keep going.
Turning Milestones into Momentum
As a Senior Program Manager at T-Mobile, Lacey oversees military hiring, fellowship programs, and national mentoring initiatives. She also serves as co-chair for the Military Spouse Employment Advisory Council with Hiring Our Heroes, advocating for career pathways for military families. Recently, she was invited to join the University of Arizona Global Campus Board of Advisors as an alumna and now mentors UAGC students who are also T-Mobile employees, continuing the cycle of support that helped her succeed.
“I’ve had so many of those people along the way in my career,” she says. “It felt important to help influence others who might be in the same situation.”
Her graduate studies sharpened the soft skills that now anchor her leadership: communication, social awareness, and the ability to present complex information with clarity.
“Through my coursework, I learned about communication at an executive level — how to structure it, how to write effectively,” she says. “It made a big difference in my confidence and in how seriously people took what I had to say.”
Six months after her cancer surgery, Lacey lined up for the Disneyland Double Dare: a 10K followed by a half marathon. It became her most meaningful race yet: a celebration of survival, gratitude, and the quiet pride that comes from summiting the hardest mile of your life.
Proof That Endurance Pays Off
Today — 45 half marathons later — Lacey’s story reads like a long-distance race: marked by grit, paced by perseverance, and fueled by an unwavering determination to keep moving forward. Whenever she runs, she says, she thinks about the journey; how far she’s come and how much road still stretches ahead. She takes great pride in the value of showing up.
“Everybody has a story,” she says. “And whether you are the first person to finish or the last, you’re there, and you’re finishing. I always think about that when I’m running.”
The same mentality translates to her UAGC education. She could’ve tried to speed through her courses; her competitive nature tempted her to do so. But instead, she paced herself, consumed everything she could, and came out the other side with gratitude and a degree.
“Five miles in new shoes without figuring out where you’re going to get blisters, or where it’s too tight, or how to adjust it, or when you need to stop for water — you have to figure all of that out before you just jump into it,” she says.
In other words: start where you are, trust the process, and keep putting one foot in front of the other. The finish line is closer than it looks.
Lacey still finds joy in running through national parks with a carefully curated Spotify playlist guiding her stride. And her message to others — students, single parents, late bloomers, anyone standing at the start line of a dream — is simple: earning your degree is a lot like training for a marathon. You move at your own pace. You learn what works. You keep going.
--
Written by UAGC Content Developer Celine Gomes.