Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell are the authors of
Marathon Moms on Runnersworld.com, a fantastic blog about their lives as moms/wives/writers/athletes. If you haven’t checked it out yet, go there now! Well wait! No, first read this interview, then go there.
1. Please introduce yourselves:
SBS: I’m Sarah Bowen Shea. I’m a freelance writer whose work appears in a variety of publications including Runner’s World, Shape, and New York Times. I am a marathon runner, a competitive Masters rower, and an enthusiastic swimmer. I am also the mom to Phoebe, 6, and twins John and Daphne, almost 3.
DM: I’m Dimity McDowell, who writes for many of the same publications as SBS (her nickname to anybody who knows or sweats with her). I also have two kids: Amelia, who is five, and Ben, who is 2.
2. Dimity is in Colorado and Sarah in Oregon, so how did you meet? How did you come up with the idea for the blog?
SBS:Dimity and I both rowed for our alma mater, Colgate University. We met at a Colgate Crew anniversary dinner when she was still at Colgate and I was an alumna. We became friends from seeing each other at a few rowing races and then I helped Dimity land her first editorial job. The blog was my idea—an off-shoot of our feature that is in the July issue of Runner’s World. A way to bond us together as we trained for the 2007 Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco.
3. How did the blog end up on Runner’s World.com?
SBS: It was part of a feature package we did about training for and running the 2007 Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco.
4. When did you start running?
SBS: Although I jogged a little in high school, I really discovered running as a freshman in college when I joined the rowing team. Running is a classic cross-training activity for rowers, and I enjoyed exploring the countryside around Colgate, which is set in rural New York State.
DM:I pretty much hated running until I joined the crew team @ Colgate too. The mile-run of the Presidential Fitness test in middle/high school always had me quaking in my Tretorns. I used running for cross-training, like Sarah, for crew—always nice not to get on the indoor rowing/torture machine.
5. Have you always been fit? What inspired you to live a fit lifestyle?
SBS: I was not at all athletic growing up—I come from a brains-not-brawn family—so being active is not ingrained in my DNA.
DM: kind of. I grew up swimming on a swim team, playing tennis, skiing. My Mom was a Jane Fonda devotee, so I guess she led by example there, and my Dad was a top regional squash player. I really got serious about fitness my senior year of college, when a top crew coach made me realize that my height (I’m almost 6’4”, combined with my strength) could make me a candidate for the U.S. Women’s National Rowing Team. So after college, I went to a development camp, won the Nation’s Cup (a world championship for those under 21) with three teammates and continue to train to make the real team. I quickly found that that lifestyle—training three times a day, focus is totally on crew—was not compatible with my attitude towards life. In fact, most days, I fantasized about writing about the experience, instead of actually living it. I quit before selection for the 1996 Olympics, and although I have my regrets about doing that, I’m also very happy with where that experience landed me.
Ben, Dimity, Amelia
6. Have you run a marathon together?
SBS: We both ran the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Fran in October 2007, but we jockeyed leads. We didn’t run together.
DM: I ran with another Sarah, my sister, who was on her 5th marathon. The SF marathon was only my 2nd: my first was in 1995, in New York City, when I was young, single and had nothing but time to kill, so training was easy.
7. Have you ever done an ultra-marathon or triathlon? Any plans to?
SBS: I’ve done a few triathlons and adventure races, but not for about 10 years. When I’m not running, I’m rowing—I’m on a competitive Masters women’s team called Portland Women’s Rowing.
DM: NO WAY on an ultra-marathon. I doubt I’ll ever do another marathon—my body can’t handle running exclusively. But I am into triathlons: I love to swim and bike, and my running is slowly becoming less of an Achilles Heel. I have two more Olympic distance triathlons this year, and will probably attempt my third half-Ironman distance sometime early next summer.
8. Do you weight train?
SBS: I know I should, but I don’t. But I have started a concerted effort to strengthen my core. My rowing coach demands it, and I’m thinking it’ll help me with my running, as well.
DM:On and off. I need to be more on. I’m addicted to the feeling of a good cardio-induced sweat, so it’s hard to trade that for sit-ups, but I’m realizing more and more that my core is the key to going faster.
9. What is your favorite exercise/workout and your least favorite and why?
SBS: It’s a tough call, but my favorite workout would either be a trail run in the hills of Marin County, California (I used to live in San Francisco) or a lake swim. Few things more tranquil and zone-inducing, to me, than open-water swimming in a lake. Least favorite? Any AT-workouts, like long track intervals or rowing ones. I’m convinced I have very few fast-twitch muscle fibers—and very small lungs for a 5’ 11” woman!
SBS
DM: Favorite: probably a two-hour bike. Long enough to feel like I’ve had a good workout, but not so long that I’m wishing I was out of the saddle. I love the speed of the bike.
Least: like SBS, a fast running workout. I pretty much despise the track.
10. How do you find the time to fit all of your training, running & racing in with everything else that you have to do?
SBS: I make time for it because it is a top priority to me. I don’t go to bed at night without having a good idea when I’m going to exercise the next day. If I know I have a lot of deadlines at work, then I set my alarm extra-early. Or I’ll crush work so I can escape at 4:00 for a 5-mile run. Sure, it’s hard to find the time to train for a major event like a marathon, but that’s why I have done so few of them (4).
DM: The only way I can do it is if I get up early. I’m usually sweating by 6 a.m. on most weekdays. While that sounds harsh, the reality is, my day is much better if I get up and get going. If I wait until 6 p.m., when my husband is home, I’m too tired and fried from the day to do anything but get the kids ready for bed and just get through the rest of the day. Also, my body is used to it now. When I try to sleep in, I usually end up just listening to NPR and tossing and turning, thinking I should just get up and do something. The flip side is that I crash about 8 p.m. every night, and am in bed by 9:30, max, most nights, but I’m o.k. with that.
11. What advice do you have for parents that say they don’t have enough time to exercise or stay fit?
SBS: The other day, another twin mom was telling me how she used to be so dedicated about going to the gym before her girls were born, but now she hasn’t been in months. I asked her why she didn’t just wake up earlier to go a few days a week, and she literally didn’t respond. Nothing. I could see her thinking about that option, and she had no response for why she didn’t do that. It’s all about setting priorities. Like I think cooking a tasty dinner is important, so I arrange my work schedule so I can do that. You just have to decide what’s important to you, and what can wait.
DM: See above: get up early, while your husband is still around, and make it work. Yes, it’ll suck for a few weeks, but the payoff is well worth it.
12. What is your daily diet like? Do you have a training diet that you follow?
SBS: I eat healthily—and heartily—but don’t follow a “diet.”
DM:It’s nothing to write home about. I eat way too much sugar, which I always say I’m going to cut back on, but then never do. I also eat a ton of peanut butter, quesadillas with pinto beans and fruit—all fairly healthy options.
13. Any plans for another marathon any time soon?
SBS: This year I’m focusing on half-marathons. I need to give my husband a break from me training for a marathon—it eats into his weekend responsibilities. But I’m thinking my next one will be in 2009. Maybe Eugene or Newport—both small, Oregon marathons.
DM:As I said, most likely not. I love the idea of training for a longer race, but I think a marathon is just too intense for my frame. Triathlon training gives me the cross-training I need for both my body and mind. I haven’t totally written off the possibility of an Ironman, but that won’t be for at least three more years, when Ben, my youngest, is in Kindergarten.
14. Does your family exercise with you?
SBS: My older daughter, Phoebe, is just starting to run a few kids races. I can’t wait until she and I can go running together. My twins are too young to do anything but run crazy!
SBS & Family
DM: We ride our bikes together: Amelia on her own, Ben in the trailer behind my bike. We ride to school/daycare, and a mile up to an ice-cream shop for a treat. I love doing that.
15.Any suggestions for someone that would like to start running or train for a marathon?
SBS: Set your mind to it, get some good running shoes at a specialty running store, read our blog, and go for it!
DM: Sign up first—be realistic and give yourself enough time to train for the distance—because I feel like once you commit, it’s easier to justify the hard training. If you think, o.k., I’ll see if I can run 13 miles before I run a marathon, or some other gauge, you have a way out of doing it. If you pay the money (and make the travel arrangements and/or babysitter plans), you’ll be more inclined to see it through. And yes, read our blog.
Thank you Sarah and Dimity for taking the time to do this interview!
