My Star Pupil by Duncan Stewart

Way back in the Spring of 2003, the Striders welcomed a new runner. Her name was Sonia, she was from Colombia, and was interested in joining the club. I guess we didn’t scare her off, and she became a regular member. At some point she mentioned that she would like to try a marathon, so I offered to design a training program for her. Sonia was running about 20 miles a week at that point, with a longest-ever run of 12 miles, and expressed doubt when I gave her the program, as it would have her running several long runs of at least 18 miles each. I assured her that with slow and steady increases in her mileage over the next few months, that she could do it.

Sonia worked hard and progressed quickly, maybe too quickly, as she developed an ITB (iliotibial band) problem. She backed off for a few weeks, stretched diligently, and fortunately the problem went away. She had company on her long runs with Yolanda, Sandra and Mike. All of a sudden, the big day was upon us! I had run New York a few weeks before and was feeling a little banged up, but decided at the last minute to run at least the first half with Sonia, Mike and Sandra, who were all shooting for about the same time. Sonia and I got separated from Mike and Sandra before the start, so I just focused on keeping Sonia with me despite the jostling crowd. We were a ways back when the gun went off, and there was a slow shuffle to the starting line.

The first mile was slow, because of the crowds, but we soon settled into an 8-minute pace. The weather was nippy, but only a light breeze – really good conditions for a marathon. Sonia was feeling very strong and I had to keep her from cutting loose. She tried to turn off with the half-marathoners, but a tug on her shirt kept her on course. At about mile 12, we were joined by Thomas. He was very supportive and it was nice to have another pacer, especially since I didn’t know if I could go the distance or not. We cruised around the lake together, and then Thomas threw me a curve ball. He came up next to me and said “I’m not sure if I can keep going at this pace.” My first thought: Ay yi yi, now I have to run the whole thing?! So I asked him to fade away slowly, so Sonia wouldn’t know that he dropped out. The pressure was on me to hang with Sonia all the way! When she hit the hills at Mile 19, I trotted out my favorite phrase “Pain Is Temporary, Pride Is Forever” (in Spanish), Sonia gave me “the Hand”. At the top of the hill (mile 21), she was hitting the wall due to not taking in enough carbohydrates, but kept on going! She has the heart of a lion!! Thomas and I kept encouraging her, and Sonia dug deep for a strong 3:35 in her debut marathon. She qualified for Boston with a 15 minute cushion!