Women Running A Full Life

Every time I fail, I assume I will be a stronger person for it. I keep on running figuratively and literally, despite a limp that gets more noticeable with each passing season, because for me there has always been a place to go and a terrible urgency to get there. – Joan Benoit

So, anyway, I was doing some research and came across this article talking about a big idea to promote a big race for a HUGE number of women. Whatever happened to that Idea? I had to ask and nobody remembered anything about it.

Of course, as a competitor who once chased many of these same women, I knew the Pacific Northwest had a world-class sorority of quality athletes.

Women On The Run – State’s Best Seek Balance Of Sport, Personal Fulfillment

Oct 17, 1991

Jody Brannon for The Seattle Times

Seeing 35,000 women run in a 10-kilometer race in Helsinki, Finland, stunned Laurel James, a Seattle running-store proprietor. But she wasn’t overwhelmed for long.

James says whatever Finland can do, Washington can do better.

She wants to build a women’s-only run that is “beyond gigantic,” an event that would attract world-class athletes to run against Washington’s best and mix with thousands of recreational runners.

“We need competition,” said James, owner of Super Jock ‘n Jill, a Green Lake running shop. Too many of Washington’s top professional distance runners must leave the state to compete, she said. This year, many have earned headlines in Toronto, New York, Berlin, Boston and beyond.

And next year, many may leave all at once. Several have legitimate chances to compete at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Jim Whiting, editor of Northwest Runner, said the Northwest’s dominance is a bit puzzling. “What’s interesting is that we have such a strong contingent of women runners, because each woman comes from a such different background.”

The key, he said, is that Washington has “several very strong-minded women who have successfully balanced competitive demands in their lives.”

Relocated runners say they moved to Seattle because of its mild climate and active lifestyle. Seattle natives say their hometown is the ideal place to train and raise a family.

Several of them gathered at a Green Lake coffee shop this week and told of their life on the run.

The following female athletes are all Original Gangsters Of Running. I personally chased more than a couple myself in the late ’70s. – JDW

— LISA WEIDENBACH: Weidenbach, 30, has been active in competitive athletics for 25 years, since the days in her native Battle Creek, Mich., when she spent so much time training as an age-group swimmer that she got stars-and-stripes tan lines through her bathing suit.

One of America’s premier distance runners, Weidenbach said sports have taught her that goals can be realized.

“There’s a lot of little boys out there playing catch with their fathers and dreaming of the big leagues,” Weidenbach said. “Well, we’ve got to get the little girls out there, too, dreaming of the big leagues, whatever their sport.

“Sports creates a more well-rounded person. You’re more enlightened. You learn so much from travel, and you learn more about yourself.”

Weidenbach won the 1989 Chicago Marathon and set the U.S. record in the 15K (48:28) at the 1989 Cascade Runoff.

Lisa Larsen Rainsberger also won the 1985 Boston Marathon and it was thirty-three (33) long years before another American woman took the crown. Thank you, Des Linden.

— REGINA BONNEY: Before she married former University of Washington running coach Alan Bonney, Regina Joyce represented her native Ireland in the 1984 Olympic marathon. Now, working on her “comeback” after having two children, Bonney, 34, said she is “on target” to gain a spot on the Irish team in the 10,000 meters. Ten days ago, she placed second in the Toronto Marathon.

She said she finds the Seattle running community helps her keep her competitive edge.

“It’s kind of nice to get together with the other women and do some training runs. Having somebody different to run with is really refreshing.”

In her 11 years in Seattle, Bonney hasn’t missed a day of running because of weather. “In Ireland and England it rains quite a bit more,” she said, chuckling. “I’m not afraid to get wet.”

Regina Joyce Bonney became an American citizen in 1993.

— GAIL KINGMA: In the 1984 Olympic Marathon Trials in Olympia, Gail Volk was the fastest-qualifying Washington woman. Now a mother with an 18-month-old daughter, Kingma helps coach Blanchet High School’s cross-country team. She recently teamed with Bonney to talk to women new to running who have entered Saturday’s Washington Women Lawyers Trial Run.

Since having a child, Kingma, 30, said she has noticed a difference in her outlook on running.

“I’ve learned more than just being disciplined,” she said. “I’m not turning the world on fire, but I’m still running. If you choose to be a competitive runner, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a family.”

You can, but it might not be easy.

“I kind of tried to run after that, for competitive reasons, but I found that it just wasn’t the same,” Gail Volk Kingma said. “I still run every single day, anywhere from three to six miles. The only difference is that after I had kids, I quit racing.”

— KIM JONES: After a workout on her treadmill yesterday, Jones recalled the outcome of her first run, 1983 Bloomsday. “I couldn’t walk for a week,” she said, now able to laugh about it. Jones, a Port Townsend native, had decided to try running after having a baby.

“I was always a very athletic child,” said Jones, 33, runner-up in the Berlin Marathon last month. “But not until my mid-20s did I start my marathon career. It’s really neat to see how you continue to get stronger and you don’t go downhill after 30. You can always improve.”

At the 1991 Berlin Marathon, Kim ran her lifetime best of 2:26:40 while finishing second. Her time in Berlin made Jones the third-fastest woman marathoner for 1991.

— GAIL HALL: Hall, 31, has learned to balance sports with caring for her year-old son. “Running is a very personal thing,” she said. “If running is important to you, it becomes more important to you” as the years go by. That’s why she keeps her vow to train 1 1/2 hours a day.

“Every woman needs to have something for themselves, or they go out of their minds as a mother,” said Hall, who set a course record last month in the Sister Cities half-marathon (1:15:55).

August 2017, Club Northwest interviewed an older Gail Hall.

Saw one question I might have to ask myself the next time I get curious.

What is your most unusual running/racing experience? 

I ran the Saint Sylvester race in Sao Paulo, Brazil (12K) on New Year’s Eve once, only it wasn’t at midnight that year as in prior years, it was at 3:00 in the afternoon (summer in Brazil). I was carted off the course at about 10k and taken to the hospital (that was an experience in itself) then when they released me an hour or two later, they took me back to where they picked me up. I had to complete the course to find the finish! The inability to speak Portuguese prevented me from being able to telling them I wanted to go TO the finish. They thought I wanted to go BACK to the course and complete the race!

One other crazy running experience was how I discovered I might be fairly good at this. I was in Junior High. At a slumber party several of us girls thought it would fun to go “streaking.” We thought we were being so bold, but it was very early in the morning, barely light out when we took off naked and giggling and ran around the block. This was probably no more than 1/2 mile but I was the first back by far! – Gail Hall

https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19911017&slug=1311388