For At Least 2 EG Women, Half Marathon Is A Satisfying First

More than 7,000 people participated in the Providence Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Sunday - two of them first-time distance runners from East Greenwich: Karen Lockhart, 17, and Kara Caldarone Abrams, 45.

For Lockhart, who will be a senior this year at EGHS, it started as a Senior Project idea, but stayed alive even after she picked up something else for her project.

For Caldarone Abrams, the race was in tribute to her father, Raymond Caldarone, who died exactly one year ago Sunday.

For both, the run culminated months of training and despite the falling rain, their spirits afterward were soaring.

“What an amazing race, amazing people, and an amazing challenge,” Caldarone Abrams said Sunday night. “Despite the heavy rain, it was incredible.”

“The best part of the race was crossing the finish line,” said Lockhart. “But for me it was more than that. It was a sense of accomplishment that I hadn't really felt since the softball championship.” Lockhart was a member of the Avenger girls softball team that captured the state championship this year.

She trained for the half marathon knowing that it would pay off come soccer season, which will be starting up soon. (Lockhart plays basketball too.) The race came just a day after she’d returned from a weeklong soccer camp. “I was already fairly exhausted,” she said.

Lockhart’s plan had been to find a steady pace and run the race alone.

The first three miles, however, were really tough, she said. “I was constantly questioning, 'Why the heck am I doing this?' … After the third mile though I got back into a steady rhythm.

“At the six-mile mark, I met up with a 40-year-old woman who had been running marathons for the past few years. I found it so much easier and more rewarding to run with somebody,” Lockhart said. “It kept my mind off the distance. Seeing that it was my first race over a single mile, I knew I could use some guidance and motivation.”

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon series is based on the idea that there’s a band playing every mile or two. According to Lockhart, the rain didn’t stop the music. Instead, most of bands played under a tent or bridge. Fans lined the course too, she said - “Their encouragement kept me going.”

The most important element for Lockhart, however, was the comraderie of the runners themselves. “In a distance as far as this, there was a level of understanding and accomplishment in every runner.... Knowing that you weren't in it alone was another key motivator,” she said.

Lockhart finished with a time of 02:19:04, better than she’d hoped. Now that she's accomplished this goal, she’s hoping that the girls soccer team can win the state championship this fall and she’d like to run a full marathon someday.

But on Sunday evening she had a couple other priorities: “For now, I look forward to eating ice cream at Hilltop and a good night's sleep.”

Kara Caldarone Abrams approached the half marathon with the same basic plan as Lockhart - to finish. But her training took a different track. Abrams used the Galloway technique, which advocates walking short distances every mile.

“I ran the Galloway method - walk for a few, run for a few, non-stop,” she said. “Today was the first anniversary of my father's death and I could not have thought of a better way to honor him."

That said, the rain was a challenge. "I could not see out of my glasses because the rain pelted down so fast on my face, but I had a blast and would not change the experience a bit," she said. She finished with a time of 03:16:46.

Abrams is so excited about her accomplishment that she’s decided to start a running group in East Greenwich, using the Galloway approach.

“I cannot wait until next year,” she said. "I am hooked."

If you are interested in training with Caldarone Abrams, you can reach her at (401) 533-8411.