It Runs In The Family

Jane Whipple is just a little bummed out.

“Henry went out running the day after the storm and injured his knee,” she says, referring to her 16-year-old son who was trying to keep his times consistent even as the high school Cross Country team cancelled practices earlier this week. “He had a big meet coming up and had also signed up for a half-marathon, so he was not only running his course, he was running it fast.”

The overall impact has been slightly more than a taped knee. “He was going to run me in on Sunday [today] and he won’t be able to do that now," she said.

Whipple is running her eighth marathon today—her second in New York. She started running about 10 years ago, at 36, to lose weight and ran her first marathon in 2005. 

“I had been a comfortable, three-mile-a-day runner and some guy at work said to me (a little dismissively), ‘if you can run three, you can run five.’ That stuck in my head and during that week I tried it. It hurt, but I did it. And at that point, I realized how much running was a mental sport,” she says. 

Her first marathon was in Santa Cruz with two of her sisters. “My goal was just to finish,” she says of her 4:31:00 time. Last year, her New York time was 3:36:28. 

“I used to say, ‘I don’t understand how you get to a point where you think you can do this.’ But once you run five, you can run eight. Then you can jump to 15.  Running became so exciting to me when I realized what a big role your mind plays. You learn how to use your resources, how to keep from getting tired.”

One of Whipple’s resources is using a pacer somewhere around mile 17. “That’s where I hit the wall, and if someone jumps in the race to pace me, I can handle the rest of the run much better," she says.

“There is nothing like having your kid run you in. It’s so emotional," she says. Henry did just that for his mom in the 2010 Nashville Marathon. “It was my first solo marathon and I asked him if he would jump in and run with me toward the end. He’s a teenager, so of course, the look on his face said, ‘I would rather be caught dead than running with you.’ But, I guess after he thought about it, he changed his mind.”

In Nashville, Henry and his mom ran side-by-side for a while from mile 17, and then he pulled ahead of her. “He knew what my goals were and he wanted to push me. I was hurting. My toes were numb and I had to take my shoes off for a minute.  He told me to do what I have to do and then we need to get going again. “

“When we finished that race, he said to me, ‘I really want to run one of these,” she says.

Whipple, who runs an average of 65 miles per week when she’s training, says she will likely have someone from the running club run her in. “There are various groups I run with from the Essex County Running Club and those people are so supportive,” she says of the group that she runs two-and-a-half to three hours with on Sundays. “We refer to Sunday as the High Holy Day of Running. We get up at 6:00 or 7:00. In rain or snow, they always go out. We’re all obsessed, and we know it’s kind of a sickness. We don’t know why.”

On reflection, Whipple does know why. “I lost 25 lbs. from running, but keeping the weight off is beside the point. I do this because of the catharsis. I was just running at my parents’ house, by the lake, and I noticed the cool air coming into my lungs, how strong my legs were, how clear my head was, and I thought, ‘I feel so happy and healthy. This makes me feel so good.’”

Whipple has no doubt that her time will come to run New York with her son.  “Henry really loves to run and I feel like I’ve had a part in that. You wonder sometimes what you’re going to pass on to your kids—neurosis, whatever. And then, this kid that you’ve spent so much time encouraging in life, turns around and is now cheering you on, saying, ‘You can do this!’ I really feel like I’ve handed down to him something of great value.”