Running is Such a Great Sport

Tucsonans getting ready for Sunday's marathon

Marathons are not just for the young and agile.

Athletes of all ages will hit the pavement Sunday during the 26.2- mile Jim Click Tucson Marathon, the Gadabout Marathon Relay and the 13.1-mile Lute and Bobbi Olson Half-Marathon.

Started at age 50

Beverly Schulz estimates that she has run 20 marathons - in addition to two 50-milers and a half-dozen triathlons - all in the last nine years.

"I started running when I was 50 years old and I got carried away," she said.

She joined a gym after having children, gaining weight and feeling "very sluggish and fatigued." Before moving to Tucson from Chicago two years ago, she had been doing aerobics and calisthenics, but she never felt any results in her gluteal muscles. So she started running for weight control and to give her backside a real workout.

Besides, "it's so much easier to roll out of bed, put your shoes on and go out for a jog," Schulz said.

"What I did when I first started, because I was so embarrassed about my shape, I would go out when it was dark so nobody would see me."

Eventually, Schulz's runs started paying off.

"In every little increment, you feel so proud. I was so happy when I did four miles, so I entered a 5K, then a 10K, then an eight-miler and a 10-miler and a half-marathon," she said. "At the time I'd heard of marathons, I told my sister: 'That's crazy! If I ever talk about doing a marathon, you come over and cut off my legs.' "

Yet within a year of that conversation with her sister, Schulz was running marathons. Now she even has friends coming to town from Chicago to join her in the marathon.

Schulz is now fit and has experienced an unexpected side effect from her exercise regime.

"Running is great for your emotional well-being. I didn't expect that. We had a tragedy in our family and running really helped," she said. "It's a very hidden advantage. Now if I don't run for a couple of days, my husband will notice my personality change. I get a little crabby, to the point he'll say, 'Go out and run for a little bit.'

"When you go out, no matter how bad a day it is, if you made a run, you can almost do anything. The rest of the day is fairly easy, and you feel you can handle almost anything."

A cure for smoking

Clay Mottaz, 62, began running 34 years ago when he was 28 and trying to quit smoking. He discovered when he was running up and down the courts in his basketball league games that the "urge to smoke would dissipate for a while," so he joined a running program.

He entered his first 10K to challenge himself, and because it was free. Since then, he has run in myriad marathons, including the Boston and New York marathons. He has run the Tucson Marathon before, but an illness earlier this year sidelined him, and he has not done as many long endurance runs to train. So Mottaz will run the half- marathon Sunday. Next year, though, he plans to resume running marathon distances.

For Mottaz, running has multiple benefits.

"It just makes you feel better for one. No. 2, it gives you a sense of independence. If your car runs out of gas and you're five miles from the gas station, no problem - you just run up to the gas station."

Plus, there is a sense of camaraderie when running with a group, and it's a morale booster, too.

"It's the idea of doing something that not too many people can do or are crazy enough to do."

Mottaz's advice for those wanting to start an exercise program: "The idea is to set a goal and work for it. Find people to run with, because it makes the time pass a lot faster."

Mom, daughter both run

Pat Diamond, 49, and her daughter, Rebekkah, 15, a sophomore at Canyon del Oro High School, are running the half-marathon together. Pat has run in two previous half-marathons, but this will be a first for Rebekkah.

"I personally love (running)," Diamond said. "I like the exercise. I like getting outside and getting the quiet time and thinking time and spending time with Rebekkah.

"I've run for years," she added. "I started when I was even younger than Rebekkah, in the days they didn't have cross country teams, and it was really an oddity for a woman to be out there running."

To train, the mother and daughter do one run together on the weekends, up to 10 miles, then train individually during the week.

"If you can do 10 miles, you can always eke out the other three," Diamond said. "It's really easy to be a runner. All you do is just go out your door and go."

Rebekkah was the youngest female finisher the two years she rode the 75-mile route in El Tour de Tucson bicycle race.

Last year Pat; Rebekkah; another daughter, Sarah, 17, a senior at CDO; and Pat's husband, Sam, 50, pedaled 1,673 miles from Boston to Florida for a family vacation.

By comparison, training for the half-marathon "takes a lot of time," Diamond said. "But I don't think we've had to make an adjustment to our lifestyle.

"It's not really an adjustment; it's what we do as a family."