It takes exceptional runners to
complete a marathon. A select few have completed 50 marathons in fifty states
and it’s an even more exclusive group that have done it at age 65 as a
great-grandmother.
Bettie Wailes of Winter Park claims membership in all three
groups and has a book on the way to describe the steps and strides she has made
along the way in her never-ending 26-mile tour of the United States.
Ms. Wailes, a writer, tutor,
teacher and former software engineer, has been running marathons since 1993.
She started running at 30 and found the health benefits revitalizing and the
friendships gained even more so. A decade later she entered her first
5-Kilometer (5K) road race and gradually increased distances before joining a
marathon training program with the Track Shack of Orlando.
She ran her first marathon in 1993
and last month completed the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati, Ohio, the last of the 50
states in which she has run a marathon.
“I had done a few marathons and had
a few friends who were in the 50 States Club so I figured what better way to
see the country,” Ms. Wailes said, referring to the initial inspiration
following an invitation to Kentucky. “I thought Louisville is a nice little
town but what else would have brought me here. Then it was St. George, Utah,
and the run was absolutely breathtaking.”
She adheres to the Galloway Training Method,
employing occasional breaks to walk in order to maintain strength and endurance
and runs at least three days a week, incorporating five or more miles, speed
work and hills. On weekends it’s a long (10-26-mile), slow run. Still working
full-time with a busy schedule beyond that, she trains to finish, not compete,
and to avoid injury from over-training.
What is her most memorable race in
the 50 states?
“I have to say two,” she said.
“There is nothing to compare with New York. The entire city is filled with cheerleaders and
there is nothing like the excitement of running through the five boroughs.
“The most charming was Taos, New Mexico. Eighty-three marathoners and we met at
the convenience store at the edge of town. We get there and the race director
led us to this cattle guard nearby and said, ‘looks like everybody’s here,
okay, go!’”
Adding to the charm in Taos was
exemplary course support and medals handmade by local school children.
Originally from Ferriday, LA,
Bettie Wailes has lived in Winter Park, FL since 1974. She was first a teacher,
then a software engineer at Martin Marietta and a few other companies before founding
her own local company, Wise Owl Tutoring.
“I was getting old and cranky and
wanted to do something that made me feel better at the end of the day,” she
remembers. “I went out and started doing tutoring myself and rediscovered my
love of teaching.”
She now has more that a half dozen
tutors working with her in a full-time operation. She is also a mother of two
children, a grandmother of five and great-grandmother of one and one on the
way, and leads the Florida
Writers AssociationMaitland Writers Group each month.
Ms. Wailes is competitive in her
age group although there are many women her age with faster times. She won her
division (Female Age Group 65 – 69) at The Flying Pig. Her times for marathons
are typically between 5 and 6 hours, with the fastest at 4:26.
How does she handle the mental
grind of a marathon?
“It’s hard to fight the boredom,”
she said. “On one long run some years ago I realized that I was getting bored
and the only thing I could think of was the ABC song, so I was singing that in
my head, but that didn’t last.”
She resorted to other, more
sophisticated songs and in recent years got herself an iPod and took to
listening to pod-casts of “A Prairie Home Companion” and other NPR shows for more
stimulating entertainment.
Her next goal is to complete 100
marathons and possibly go around the country for 50 more. Reassuringly, she can
count on familiar faces wherever she runs, whether it be Hawaii, Oregon, Texas
or Maine. She and others utilize the 50
States Marathon Club Web site to keep in touch, and often collaborate to
share car rentals, living arrangements and other necessities to save expenses.
She is known and recognized locally and nationally as ‘the woman in the hot
pink hat.’
“The people I meet at the marathons
have sort of become my extended family,” she says with reverence. “It would be
sad to think that I wouldn’t continue to see them. The events become as much
social as the running.”
As well as a unique tour of the
U.S., the running has provided obvious health benefits. Her resting pulse rate
is about 51 and her cardiovascular system reflects the finely conditioned
athlete that she is.
“My doctor encourages me to keep
doing it. He says it will keep me healthy, and at 65 I take no prescription
drugs of any kind, which is something not many people can say.”
For local training areas, she uses
the Cady Way Trail in Winter Park and recommends parking
garages for getting used to hills surely to be encountered in other states.
“Running in a parking garage is
pretty darn good hill work,” she says, enthusiastically. “And running downhill
stresses your body nearly as much as going up. You need practice doing both if
you’re going to run a marathon.”
Ms. Wailes wrote a story about
running (tentatively) titled, “The Finish Line,” which was recently accepted
for the Chicken Soup for the Soul: Runners book, slated for release
in July 2010. The tremendously successful “Chicken Soup” franchise promises to
present her story to an international audience as both a runner and a writer.
She has completed the first draft
of her book, currently titled “A View From The Back of the Pack,” and is
deciding between publishers. The title is derived from her marathon experience,
which is typically from the back of the pack of younger, expert runners.
The most poignant tale the book
expounds upon is the love story and subsequent engagement to Paul Quinlan that
began at a road race in 1988. Sadly, Mr. Quinlan passed away from cancer in
1994 before the marriage, leaving her forever heartbroken yet uniquely
inspired, which constitutes the essence of the book.
“He was my biggest cheerleader,”
she says with fond remorse. “His story is interwoven with the running because
that became an important part of why I carry on. Whenever I ran it made me feel
close to him and it still does.”
Not your typical grandmother or great-grandmother, Bettie Wailes, 65, of Winter Park, has been running since 1978. At first it was two miles, three times a week for cardiovascular fitness. She never intended to enter a race of any distance. But she did. After accepting the challenge from a co-worker, she ran her first 5K in 1988. "I was shocked that I finished second in my age group. That little trophy made me want to go back for more." By 1992, she had become accustomed to running local 5Ks and 10Ks, and was interested in longer distances. She joined Track Shack's marathon training program and ran her first marathon in 1993 at the age of 49. "It was a great run--one of those magically good days. If that first marathon hadn't gone so well, I'm not sure I would have attempted another." By the age of 57, Bettie had run 17 marathons in eight states. In 2001, after a run in beautiful St. George, Utah, she decided to run a marathon in every state. With only one more state needed to be eligible to join the 50 States Marathon Club, last month, at the age of 65, she finished the Flying Pig in Cincinnati, Ohio, bringing the total to 79 marathons. Her next goal: to make to 100 marathons. "After that, I'm not sure what I'll do. If I'm still feeling good at the finish line, I might start on the second time around the states. I already have six for the second time, not that I'm counting."
CORRECTION: One only needs 10 states to be eligible to join the 50 States Marathon Club. It's a function of the club to help members complete the states.
