Meg, Health Editor

After Betty talked me into doing the half-marathon with her (Thank you, Betty!), I decided to rope one more person into the plan. My mother! At 60, she had never done any sort of “race” before. She doesn’t run, but does like to go hiking in the summer. But she lives in upstate New York and so has been cooped up indoors for most of the winter (except for a few jaunts out on snowshoes!).

She was hesitant when I asked her to take on 13.1 miles. She said she’d see what she could do. She headed to the local sports center in her town and began walking the track—18 times around for a mile.

One day she called me to report that she had done 3 miles. I tried to react positively, but I had to admit that walking the same loop 54 times sounded to me like one thing—misery!! But she kept at it—doing some of her training on the track and some on a treadmill.

When race day came around I told her that it would be okay if she could only do seven miles. After I completed my 13 miles in just under 2 hours, I hugged my dad, husband, daughter, dog, brother, sister-in-law and niece—all who came out to cheer us on! They reported that they had spotted my mother at mile 6 and she was looking strong. I was so excited to hear this news. I looped back and met up with my mom at about mile 11 and walked the final two miles with her. She looked terrific and began telling me about how she was going to get her friend Liz to walk the race with her next year.

When I crossed the finish line I felt good, but watching my mother cross the finish line made me feel GREAT!