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Show Runners dig for inner strength By SHERRIE EINFELDT , Have you ever wondered what makes a person want to run a marathon? Day after day runners pace themselves in all kinds of weather and at all hours. Pat Purdy, a homemaker and mother of four, began running 11 years ago just to keep in shape. She found it to be good therapy and learned to love it. She ran her first half marathon in 1983, and the Deseret New marathon in 1 984. She never thought she'd run another one.. .until she was talked into this year's race by a friend. Pat runs to win her personal goals. For her, "it's more than a physical racewhen you give all you can and it's not enough. ..well, you find out you have more strength than you thought you did. ' Pat began training about three months before the race, building up the daily mileage until peaking at 60 miles a week. She says once she made the commitment, it meant changing sleep and diet routines, her social life, and dedicating herself to this goal as first priority. Although Pat became ill several days before the race, which was a real discouragement, she realized that life isn't fair, so she'd just have to do her best. She ran anyway, and was thrilled that she achieved her goal in spite of the obstacles. Pat found that because so many others wanted her to succeed, she now feels a strong sense of responsibility respon-sibility to be there for them, too. She says running and achieving such a difficult personal goal has given her a better understanding of the world around her, and it's reward enough just to have crossed the finish line! Max and Tara Brough, father and daughter duo, have been running for exercise for about six years. They had talked about running a marathon to celebrate Max's 50th brithday next year, so they decided to begin training this year. Tara suggested they set the goal and go for it this year, since it was to be her last year at home before going to college. So they did. They ran a total of 500 training miles, and used this quote as their driving motto: "Only those who risk going too far can find out how far they can possibly go." Their goals for the race were to finish, to run side by side throughout the race, not to walk any of the race, and to finish in under four hours nine minutes. Tara said the first five miles of the race were the hardest because she was so nervous, but then she settled in and felt great..in fact, she could have kept going after the finish line. (She went shopping at the mall afterwards!) Max said he knew they'd finish, but he didn't know how he'd feel at the end. He hit a low point at 25 miles, and it was Tara who talked him through to the finish line.. .holding hands. He said the mental preparation throughout the training was the biggest big-gest challenge, and it taught them to keep going. They learned they can do anything they set their minds to. They did agree that the race gave them an exhilarating feeling, and then when it was finally over, after all the physical and mental preparation, prep-aration, it was rather anti-climatic. The race was actually a celebration of their training. During training Max sometimes had to run in strange cities while on business trips. Tara had to train the last two weeks by herself since school had started at Utah State. The twosome spent a lot of time just chatting about life while they ran together. The silent moments on those dark mornings of training, when they'd give each other an occasional oc-casional "high five," or when Max would say "I love you" to Tara were the tilings that made the experience expe-rience so worthwhile. Max said the relationship with his daughter was the most important part... something he will never forget. Tara agrees. Although they have always been close, this was a special time together and it was nice to know that her dad understood exactly ex-actly how she felt. She wants to run the race again next year, and Max says he'll be there along with her. Members of the Gordon Hill family have been running for years. In 1988, Gordon Sr., Donna and Eric ran in the Honolulu Marathon (Donna did it mainly because her husband didn't think she could do it). Gordon Jr. ran the St. George marathon last year, and he wanted to better his time this year (which he did by nine minutes). Donna talked Pat Purdy into running run-ning it with her this year, and they trained together right up until the end when Donna suffered a torn muscle injury and had to it easy. Then Pat ran with the Broughs. Gordon Jr., not liking the early morning hours, trained alone during the day. Donna said her biggest challenge was what to wear during the race. Actually, after her injury she mentally men-tally prepared herself for the pain and she never even considered letting let-ting that stop her. "I'm too stub-bom stub-bom and bull-headed to give up," was her reasoning. Although her time was not as good as she would have liked, she endured the pain and finished the race. She felt good about that. Her husband was activated ac-tivated to Saudi Arabia a few weeks before the race, but the rest of her family was a tremendous support to her. Donna feels that in order to accomplish ac-complish such a difficult goal, one's spirit has to be stronger than the body because it's too easy to quit. She made new friends during the race and strengthened existing friendships during training. She hopes that her running is a good example to her children and that they'll not only be proud of their mom, but will realize the importance im-portance of taking care of their bodies. She isn't sure if she'll run another marathon, but she continues to run just for fun. Gordon said that it's hard to put the whole experience of training and running a marathon into words. It's kind of a personal thing. Motivations change almost daily, and you have to do it for yourself, not for anyone else. When the pain comes, you have to be doing it because you want to. And you have to keep a positive mental image of your goal throughout training. He sai d he w ill run more marathons. He enjoys running because it's relaxing and helps him clear his mind. He learned a lot about himself and what he can push his endurance to. He gained a lot of stick-to-it-iveness from the training, discipline. A few things these runners all commonly expressed is the ab-sol ab-sol utely es senti al role of their families. Their goal had to come first, and families often had to pick up the slack of family duties. Many were the times the kids met the runners along the way with a drink or an encouraging word. They all said if their families had not been there along the race route, they probably wouldn't have made it to me end. Pat's kids actually ran the last few miles with her to keep her going. They also stressed that dedication must be total. The time commitment, especially at the end when training sessions took hours, was a real sacrifice. hh j'S- --' Mwmwwm jupjl jmWW m gwj m in mm. uuii nc tm wymote- uwm9M faig1".. iiiD ' iu i wupm 1 1 n im99mmmtj9 Pictured are five of 20 Kaysville runners who completed the St. George Marathon. From left to right they are Max Brough, Kara Brough, Pat Purdy, Donna Hill and Gordon Hill. A special f story could be written about each individual who participate in this annual endurance race. |