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Going the distance: Faculty members share marathon memories
Nov 16, 2004 8:00 AM
By Tannika King - Faculty
“I run to breathe, I run to think, I run not to think, I run to reward myself, to challenge myself and to make myself a better person. This keeps me going,” said Lindsay Bergen, Chemistry I and Anatomy teacher.
Bergen ran competitively during her high school and collegiate years, running her first marathon as a junior in college. At the time, her parents were going through a divorce, her natural father had been diagnosed with multiple cancers and she was struggling to deal with the stress while keeping up a 24-hour course load.
“I decided to run [the Philadelphia Marathon] after I got lost on a seven-mile run and it turned into 15 miles,” she said. “I thought, ‘That was easy enough. I can run another 11.’ So I trained and trained and thought to myself, ‘I will have 26.2 miles to think about everything going on in my life, and I will be healed by the end,” Bergen said.
The first mile started down Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and two tall, lanky boys ran past Bergen singing, “Play that funky music white boy.”
“Let me tell you, for the next 25 miles I had that song in my head. I chanted it the whole way,” said Bergen. “I didn’t think about all the things I thought I would. I didn’t run away from them either. Instead, my soul settled it for me. Ever since then, I cannot stop running. There is no feeling I enjoy more than crossing a finish line at a race. Your body is never the same. There is a wave of emotion that encompasses happiness because your body can finally stop moving to sadness that the journey has ended.”
Fellow faculty member and marathon runner Rob Davis, AP Humanities and Graphic Design teacher, gets the same satisfaction.
“I started running when I was in third or fourth grade, and I keep running because it’s a part of me,” said Davis, who competes about two or three times per year. “The most exciting race for me was the Rocket City Marathon when I was trying to qualify for Boston. I had to run faster than three hours 10 minutes, but I wanted to break three hours. I ran two hours 58 minutes. When I finished, I cried, I think.”
But Davis’ favorite running experience did not involve a marathon. Instead, he was attempting to achieve a personal goal of running 10,000 meters in under 36:00 minutes. He had tried twice and was close – 36:15 and 36:10 minutes, respectively.
“I knew that I could do it, but I could not seem to put it all together,” Davis recalled. “But on my third and last attempt, I made it. I made it because of Jeff Gaither, the former head cross-country coach [at Darlington] and one of my best friends, who ran with me and paced me. It felt so good to accomplish my goal. I threw up immediately because I had run so hard. Jeff just laughed at me. Then I just cried again. Running does not always involve crying, it just happens that [these two] do. Incidentally, I ran 35:46.”
To accomplish goals like this, runners put a huge emphasis on training. Marathon training, for example, involves months of focused running three to four days a week.
“The reason there is a mystique about the marathon as a race is that the distance can not be completed without taking in fluids and nutritional supplements along the way. The body cannot carry enough fuel to finish the race,” said Davis. “Also, the marathon is a fabled race because it is said to be the distance from Marathon to Athens. The distance was run by Phidipedes to save his beloved Greeks in ancient times. When he completed the run, he is said to have died after his message was delivered. It is interesting that the marathon is such a magical kind of thing, especially when you consider that there are a lot of other races out there that are much longer; ultra marathons are 50 and 100 miles.”
Bergen said she typically runs spring marathons with a goal to finish, not focusing on speed or interval training but simply completing the distance.
“Most often, if I am training to complete a fall marathon, then I seriously focus on my speed,” she said. “The most difficult route was the Atlantic City Marathon. A lot of the running was on the boardwalk along the ocean, and although beautiful, the wind was absorbing about 35 percent of the energy you put to move forward.”
After four months of training, Middle School Spanish teacher Shana Pardue was ready to compete in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC.
“The route in DC took me through Georgetown, around Washington Mall and through many other areas in DC and Virginia. There were 13 water/Gatorade stops along the way that were manned by Marines,” she said.
According to Davis, there is training to finish 26.2 miles, and there is training to run 26.2 miles fast.
“Both types are tedious over time,” he said. “The Boston Marathon was the most difficult course for me, because I had not trained to run 13 miles worth of downhills.”
Eighth grade English and Research teacher Ken Wempe runs for speed, competing regularly in 5Ks and 10Ks and sometimes in college cross-country meets. In fact, he finished 101st in last year’s Peachtree Roadrace 10K.
“The anticipation of the last six miles is the most exciting part about running a marathon,” he said. “Apparently the human body wasn’t made to run much farther than 18 to 20 miles or about an hour-and-a-half of intense exercise. Once you get to that point in the race, regardless of talent and training, almost anything can happen.”
Greg Foreman, Algebra II and III teacher, has competed in the Boston Marathon four times, as well as the London Marathon with 40,000 runners.
“Boston is really exciting, because you get to meet so many world-class runners in person and the whole atmosphere is always very upbeat,” he said. “The crowds are incredible. They line almost the entire route. If you wear an interesting shirt (I wore won with Gumby one year), you are sure to have lots of people yelling for you.”
Bergen had similar memories from the New York Marathon, which she ran in 1999 with 30,000 runners and 1 million spectators. And even with the yelling, Foreman said nothing is more relaxing than spending a few hours running.
“It relieves a lot of stress,” he said. “It is not always a good feeling to cross the finish line, because you still hurt for a while, but usually you really get a nice feeling of accomplishment.”
Bergen agreed, thinking back on her favorite running experience, which did not involve competition or a finish line.
“It was snowing in Philadelphia. About six inches had fallen since school let out, and we were scheduled to get around 10 inches, so everyone left work early,” she recalled. “Around 6:30 or 7 p.m. when I knew the streets were cleared of vehicles, I put on my long skins, my ear warmer, my gloves, laced up my sneakers and headed out the door with no destination in mind. For it to snow, it has to be a certain temperature; it cannot be too cold. So it was 30 degrees, the snow was falling, the streets not yet plowed on the Main Line (the outskirts of Philadelphia).
“I ran down the middle of every road on the remaining tire tracks. The lampposts glowed a dull pink and the snow was falling all around me. It was a very slow run, as each footfall landed on a cushion. The air, which smelled like a northeast wind from Canada with hints of woodstoves, was cool entering the lungs and then warmed. I listened to the sound of silence, interrupted only by the sound of my breathing,” continued Bergen. “I cannot put into words how happy I was. Hours passed, and when I was tired after about 14 or 15 miles, I called my now-husband Pete from the corner of the road and said, ‘I think I am done now.’ And at 9:30 p.m. in his four-wheel drive vehicle, the only other person on the road was the one coming to pick me up. I have many stories of races and runs exactly like this one, and they are the reasons I keep running.”
Bergen ran competitively during her high school and collegiate years, running her first marathon as a junior in college. At the time, her parents were going through a divorce, her natural father had been diagnosed with multiple cancers and she was struggling to deal with the stress while keeping up a 24-hour course load.
“I decided to run [the Philadelphia Marathon] after I got lost on a seven-mile run and it turned into 15 miles,” she said. “I thought, ‘That was easy enough. I can run another 11.’ So I trained and trained and thought to myself, ‘I will have 26.2 miles to think about everything going on in my life, and I will be healed by the end,” Bergen said.
The first mile started down Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and two tall, lanky boys ran past Bergen singing, “Play that funky music white boy.”
“Let me tell you, for the next 25 miles I had that song in my head. I chanted it the whole way,” said Bergen. “I didn’t think about all the things I thought I would. I didn’t run away from them either. Instead, my soul settled it for me. Ever since then, I cannot stop running. There is no feeling I enjoy more than crossing a finish line at a race. Your body is never the same. There is a wave of emotion that encompasses happiness because your body can finally stop moving to sadness that the journey has ended.”
Fellow faculty member and marathon runner Rob Davis, AP Humanities and Graphic Design teacher, gets the same satisfaction.
“I started running when I was in third or fourth grade, and I keep running because it’s a part of me,” said Davis, who competes about two or three times per year. “The most exciting race for me was the Rocket City Marathon when I was trying to qualify for Boston. I had to run faster than three hours 10 minutes, but I wanted to break three hours. I ran two hours 58 minutes. When I finished, I cried, I think.”
But Davis’ favorite running experience did not involve a marathon. Instead, he was attempting to achieve a personal goal of running 10,000 meters in under 36:00 minutes. He had tried twice and was close – 36:15 and 36:10 minutes, respectively.
“I knew that I could do it, but I could not seem to put it all together,” Davis recalled. “But on my third and last attempt, I made it. I made it because of Jeff Gaither, the former head cross-country coach [at Darlington] and one of my best friends, who ran with me and paced me. It felt so good to accomplish my goal. I threw up immediately because I had run so hard. Jeff just laughed at me. Then I just cried again. Running does not always involve crying, it just happens that [these two] do. Incidentally, I ran 35:46.”
To accomplish goals like this, runners put a huge emphasis on training. Marathon training, for example, involves months of focused running three to four days a week.
“The reason there is a mystique about the marathon as a race is that the distance can not be completed without taking in fluids and nutritional supplements along the way. The body cannot carry enough fuel to finish the race,” said Davis. “Also, the marathon is a fabled race because it is said to be the distance from Marathon to Athens. The distance was run by Phidipedes to save his beloved Greeks in ancient times. When he completed the run, he is said to have died after his message was delivered. It is interesting that the marathon is such a magical kind of thing, especially when you consider that there are a lot of other races out there that are much longer; ultra marathons are 50 and 100 miles.”
Bergen said she typically runs spring marathons with a goal to finish, not focusing on speed or interval training but simply completing the distance.
“Most often, if I am training to complete a fall marathon, then I seriously focus on my speed,” she said. “The most difficult route was the Atlantic City Marathon. A lot of the running was on the boardwalk along the ocean, and although beautiful, the wind was absorbing about 35 percent of the energy you put to move forward.”
After four months of training, Middle School Spanish teacher Shana Pardue was ready to compete in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC.
“The route in DC took me through Georgetown, around Washington Mall and through many other areas in DC and Virginia. There were 13 water/Gatorade stops along the way that were manned by Marines,” she said.
According to Davis, there is training to finish 26.2 miles, and there is training to run 26.2 miles fast.
“Both types are tedious over time,” he said. “The Boston Marathon was the most difficult course for me, because I had not trained to run 13 miles worth of downhills.”
Eighth grade English and Research teacher Ken Wempe runs for speed, competing regularly in 5Ks and 10Ks and sometimes in college cross-country meets. In fact, he finished 101st in last year’s Peachtree Roadrace 10K.
“The anticipation of the last six miles is the most exciting part about running a marathon,” he said. “Apparently the human body wasn’t made to run much farther than 18 to 20 miles or about an hour-and-a-half of intense exercise. Once you get to that point in the race, regardless of talent and training, almost anything can happen.”
Greg Foreman, Algebra II and III teacher, has competed in the Boston Marathon four times, as well as the London Marathon with 40,000 runners.
“Boston is really exciting, because you get to meet so many world-class runners in person and the whole atmosphere is always very upbeat,” he said. “The crowds are incredible. They line almost the entire route. If you wear an interesting shirt (I wore won with Gumby one year), you are sure to have lots of people yelling for you.”
Bergen had similar memories from the New York Marathon, which she ran in 1999 with 30,000 runners and 1 million spectators. And even with the yelling, Foreman said nothing is more relaxing than spending a few hours running.
“It relieves a lot of stress,” he said. “It is not always a good feeling to cross the finish line, because you still hurt for a while, but usually you really get a nice feeling of accomplishment.”
Bergen agreed, thinking back on her favorite running experience, which did not involve competition or a finish line.
“It was snowing in Philadelphia. About six inches had fallen since school let out, and we were scheduled to get around 10 inches, so everyone left work early,” she recalled. “Around 6:30 or 7 p.m. when I knew the streets were cleared of vehicles, I put on my long skins, my ear warmer, my gloves, laced up my sneakers and headed out the door with no destination in mind. For it to snow, it has to be a certain temperature; it cannot be too cold. So it was 30 degrees, the snow was falling, the streets not yet plowed on the Main Line (the outskirts of Philadelphia).
“I ran down the middle of every road on the remaining tire tracks. The lampposts glowed a dull pink and the snow was falling all around me. It was a very slow run, as each footfall landed on a cushion. The air, which smelled like a northeast wind from Canada with hints of woodstoves, was cool entering the lungs and then warmed. I listened to the sound of silence, interrupted only by the sound of my breathing,” continued Bergen. “I cannot put into words how happy I was. Hours passed, and when I was tired after about 14 or 15 miles, I called my now-husband Pete from the corner of the road and said, ‘I think I am done now.’ And at 9:30 p.m. in his four-wheel drive vehicle, the only other person on the road was the one coming to pick me up. I have many stories of races and runs exactly like this one, and they are the reasons I keep running.”
