Today is Vol. 11 of “Marathon Mommas.” Come along as we follow two women — Theressa Miller and Christine Vassen — in their quest to run their their first marathon in the spring. Each week, they’ll give us a glimpse into their training and mindset as they push themselves toward 26.2.
By Theressa Miller
Saturday was a day that Mother Nature and Mom Guilt tried to stop our run. However, rearranging and preplanning helped in both areas.
In my home, my husband works most Saturdays. This is normally OK, but this weekend I had a working husband, 13 miles to run, a birthday party and a basketball game.
Now multiply that by two more women, each with their own specific set of mom challenges.Between the three of us, we have seven children with the oldest being 7 and the youngest 18 months. But, our motto really has become — plan life around running.
This weekend called for a high of 24 degrees along with winds. We knew we were going to need layers. Christine noted that it was 14 degrees when we started out.
Before we hit the road all I could think about was our limited time frame — three hours to run, shower & get out of the house by 1:30 to be to a game at 2 p.m., etc.
But, then, the magic of running took over. We had not run together in two weeks so each of us gave each other a rundown of the last two weeks — kids, jobs, husbands, runs, gym talk, visits and the advice of Dr. Y (who made running possible this weekend).
Except for one steep, nasty hill that Christine charged up, we were together most of the entire run. We chatted when we could, but it seemed like someone was always pushing the pace.
It was a lot of fun.
Two miles from the house I started to get antsy. Our other running partner wanted to know about how far we had left. Christine told the poor woman “an hour and 2 short hills left.”
I wanted to throttle her.
The hills were nasty and it was less that 30 minutes of running.
I could feel my calves cramping but I still had those two short steep hills to climb and then Eminem came on my iPod. “Lose Yourself” just has the right beat and meaning and attitude.
I called “gut run.” Actually “gut run” is what Christine heard; I said “see you at the hill.”
I love that feeling. My lungs feel open. My legs don’t even feel like they are putting out any effort. My shoulder square. I have “lost myself.” (I try not to think about the fact that this feeling is coming after 11.7 miles of running already.)
For about a mile, I am somewhat alone, both of them are a few feet from me, not even a tenth of a mile. But I need to get up those hills.
The first one was the steepest. I ran it and let out a guttural cry. Power. Repeat Eminem.
Hill number two hurts more and now I can hear Christine right behind me.
“Halo” by Beyonce comes on. WOW that is a slow song.
Christine blows by me.
I finally grab a better song but my moment is over. I see her finish about a minute before me. She put about a tenth of a mile between us. I finish with a little less of a skip in my step, but it is a good finish.
Our other partner finished a moment later.
Our pace was 13 flat for 13.7 hilly miles. This pace is not for Heather or Dr. Y, but it’s our pace and it is great! We were just under a 13 miles for a very flat half marathon at Presque Isle in September. Now, four and a half months later we are holding our pace even after throwing in the hills. Cool.
TO BE CONTINUED …










