It's an early spring Saturday afternoon in Midlothian, Virginia, and in a backyard buzzing with activity-kids on a zipline, flying baseballs, careening scooters-a race is afoot. The challenger: a freckled 7-year-old boy, wearing the head-to-toe maroon of Virginia Tech. Accepting that challenge: a mom in black running tights, long blond hair pulled into a loose bun, smile incandescent. At the boy's call, they scrabble down the wooden stairs of the back porch, dodge family members, and sprint up the driveway. There's a few seconds of silence as the pair disappears around the front of the house, and then the boy rounds the corner again, yelling, I beat Aunt Kiki running! I beat Aunt Kiki running! The loser pretends to breathe hard, hands on knees, then protests teasingly, Hey, I wasn't running the tangents! But Keira D'Amato doesn't seem too disappointed. After all, just three months prior, at age 37, she set a new American record for the marathon in Houston, besting a time that had stood since 2006.
D'Amato's success has been riveting to watch, in part because it seemed to come out of nowhere. She had only resumed running competitively in 2017 following a seven-year hiatus. In the interim, she adopted the life of a typical suburbanite: career, marriage, kids. And then, around the time most people are starting to reminisce about their glory days, D'Amato started living them. Really living them. She found more success in five short years than most elite runners do in an uninterrupted lifetime of training.
This story is from the Issue 05, 2022 edition of Runner's World US.
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This story is from the Issue 05, 2022 edition of Runner's World US.
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PARENTING THROUGH RUNNING
I GRAB MY headlamp and run down the driveway, heading out for the quiet streets an hour before sunrise.
STOP LISTENING TO MUSIC WHILE YOU RUN! (TRY AUDIOBOOKS INSTEAD)
I'VE RUN MORE than 30 marathons over the past 20 years, but I recently found one hack that has made my last two training cycles the most fun I've ever had logging a ton of miles: audiobooks.
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TEAM BONDING AND AMATEUR FILMMAKING
I WENT TO my first high-school cross-country practice freshman year in jean shorts, mostly walking as I heaved and huffed.
I NEED A DRINK RUN
TO KEEP THE cold at bay one December night in 2022, my friend Justine and I got together for some mulled wine, a hot drink as delicious as it is sentimental to me, reminding me of holiday gatherings and Christmas markets back home in the Czech Republic.
HOW TO START A RUN WHEN YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT
I'VE ALWAYS FELT validation when reading a story about writers and their love of procrastination.
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I HAVE TO let you in on a little secret: I haven't been running much these last few months, and it's the best decision I've made.
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HOW FAR CAN RUNNING LAKEYOU AFTER A DECADE OF ADDICTION!
WHEN MITCH AMMONS FINALLY GOT CLEAN, HE COULD BARELY JOG A HALF MILE. NOW HE'S LINING UP WITH SOME OF THE COUNTRY'S TOP DISTANCE RUNNERS AT THE 2024 OLYMPIC MARATHON TRIALS.