Jennifer Lin - Sole Sisters: Stories of Women and Running

Sole Sisters copyright 2006 by Jennifer Lin and Susan Warner. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews. For information, write Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, an Andrews McMeel Universal company, 1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106.

Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC
an Andrews McMeel Universal company
1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106

APPR

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

www.andrewsmcmeel.com

Lin, Jennifer.

Sole sisters : stories of women and running / Jennifer Lin and Susan Warner.

p. cm.

E-ISBN: 978-0-7407-8697-6

1. Women runnersAnecdotes. 2. Running for womenAnecdotes. I. Warner, Susan, 1957 II. Title.

GV1061.10.W66L56 2006
796.42092dc22
[B]

2005057061

Design by Holly Camerlinck
Cover design by Michelle Farinella
Cover photo by Ryan McVay/Getty Images

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To our husbands and kids

Bill, Karl, and Cory

Jennifer Lin

Strauss, Ella, and Sylvia

Susan Warner

Joan Nesbit Mabe
A world-class racer turns coach of moms

Sister Marion Irvine
The Flying Nun

Cheryl Treworgy
Paving the way for her daughter

Allentown Womens 5K Classic
It takes a committee

Cinnamon Spear
On the faded trail of Chief Dull Knife

Team Windsor
Therapy in motion

Darcy Gibbs Batzold
Fighting cancer with her sisters

Grete Waitz
The accidental legend

Theo Carroll
The road to Hawaii

Sandy Felt
Recovering from 9/11

Susan Pajer and Marilyn Darrows
The runner next door

The Ndereba Sisters
Running for Kenya

Sandy Oslosky
From tragedy, a turning point

Centipede Ladies
The ultimate connection

Amber Trotter
Finding a new way

Ellen Wessel
Dressing women runners

Midori Sperandeo
Pregnancy, babies, and running

Students Run Philly Style
Running to a brighter future

Colleen Cannon
Four-legged running partners

Taylor Ng
Born with a runners soul

The Dawn Patrol
Finding friendship in a new hometown

Like many women, our running started with a craving for ice cream. And creamy pasta. And dark chocolate. But before long, our three-mile jogs along Philadelphias riverside Kelly Drive became so much more than a way to burn calories. It was our therapy, our time to mull questions big and small, to escape the workaday world, to connect, to talk. Eyes focused straight ahead, legs turning in tandem, we free-associated on everything from what to serve at a daughters bat mitzvah to how to renovate a beach house. We commiserated over fussy cats and forgetful husbands, working our way up to the Rosetta stone of our beings, our mothers. We took turns and switched topics, one moment celebrating the success of a shy child on the soccer field or ballet stage, the next lamenting the creaks and gray hair of middle age. And across those miles, our running brought back the lost pleasure of visiting for a spell with a friend.

We werent alone. On our midday runs, we passed a constant stream of womenrunning alone or in pairswho seemed to easily outnumber male runners on Kelly Drive. What was going on? That question led to an article we cowrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer about the boom in womens running. Our ranks were growing: 11 million strong and counting. In response to the article, we got phone calls, letters, and e-mails from other runners who wanted to tell us why they run. Friends shared tales about women whose lives had been transformed through running. We began collecting stories. We talked to race organizers and running-store owners. We went online and found runners in other parts of the country to talk toa cancer survivor in Albany, a nun in Northern California, a running-club organizer in St. Louis, a Cheyenne teenager from Montana, and a Boulder woman who runs with horses.

We share with you their stories, our stories. We are women who have discovered the joy of running and know that at the end of a good workout comes the mixed benefits of fitness and friendship and maybe some ice cream, pasta, and dark chocolate.

T he school fund-raiser couldnt have come at a more serendipitous time for Joan Nesbit Mabe. Her daughters preschool needed donations for a silent auction. Joan offered her time. She auctioned a ten-week training program for runners with one hitch: Only mothers were allowed. It was meant to be a one-shot deal. It became so much more.

The year was 2000, a pivotal time for Joan. She was thirty-eight, remarried, and the mother of two daughters. She had been running competitively for two decades and could sense it was time to say good-bye to racing. That summer, she competed in her fifth Olympic Trials. She had made the U.S. squad for the 1996 Atlanta Games, running in the marquee 10,000 meters. This time around, at the 2000 trials, Joan finished in the middle of the pack in the 1,500 meters, content just to be part of the experience.

More and more, Joan wondered about the next phase of her life. Where would her running take her? She had climbed to the top of her sport. She had been a big-league college coach, once leading both the mens and womens cross-country teams at the University of North Carolina. She had worn red, white, and blue in the Olympics. She had records and titles.

Now what?

Luckily, motherhood left her little time to grieve for her fading status as a competitor. She had one daughter to potty train and another in Brownies. And right now, her daughters school needed to raise money.

Around the preschool in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Joan was known as Rosies momnot Joan the UNC track legend, two-time All-American, 1995 national cross-country champion, 1996 Olympian.

Just Rosies mom.

The training program for the auction filled up quickly. Ten mothers signed on. Just enough, thought Joan. She had a reason for focusing on mothers. Joan remembered firsthand how isolated she felt as a new mother.