Moms On The Run

That was the opinion of Valerie Bates, shared with friends on Sunday as she stretched her sore muscles moments after reaching the finish line of the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon.

The Vancouver woman had never run farther than seven miles, so Sunday's 13.1-mile race was a big test.

"It took everything in me to not stop. It was tough," Bates said.

Over the last several miles, Bates and friend Julie Roy pushed each other through the pain and the strong urge to quit.

"I was thinking, 'I've got to keep going, and if I can't keep going, she better keep going,' " Roy said.

It's that type of support that helped Roy, Bates and nine other new mothers from Clark County tackle the half marathon with fellow participants in Baby Boot Camp, a fitness program for new moms.

Given the demands of life with a newborn, tackling a half marathon was a special challenge.

"Eating, getting enough food and sleeping," said Dorothy Sosnowski, listing the physical challenges of training for a race with 5-month-old daughter Halina to care for.

Sosnowski was a runner, mostly of the 5-kilometer to 10-K variety, but hadn't run anything close to Sunday's 13.1-mile distance in about a decade. Still, she ran a strong race, placing third among women in the 30-34 age group by finishing in 1 hour, 50 minutes, 25 seconds.

"It felt good," Sosnowski said. "It was very inspiring to run with other new moms." She said that during the training runs leading up to the half marathon, she shared less advice to her teammates about distance running than they shared with her about motherhood.

"I really laid more (questions) on them for advice about motherhood and how to balance the exercise with being a mom," Sosnowski said. "It's much different demand on your body when you have a baby and you are running." Finding time to exercise can be difficult given the time demands of raising a newborn. In the Baby Boot Camp program, moms bring their babies with them to the workouts.

"It's impossible to find the time to exercise and balance spending time with your kids and all that stuff," said Rachel Hinson, who works a full-time job in Portland and has boys Isaac, 3 1/2, and Alex, 20 months. "Now I just bring them with me when I exercise, and it's great." Hinson ran the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon for the first time last year at the urging of Cindy Keil, the owner of Baby Boot Camp in Vancouver. On Sunday, she finished sixth in the 30-34 age group with a time of 1:52:29.

So inspired was Hinson that she became a certified trainer, and has been an instructor for the program for almost a year. She was responsible for planning training runs for the half marathon.

"I was always amazed on the days we did our longer training runs," Hinson said. "There were days when it was freezing cold and rainy and windy, and I thought, 'Great. I'm going to be out there all alone. No one's going to show up.' But there was never a day when we had fewer than four people show up for those long runs, and usually it was about eight." Sunday's weather -- cool, calm and dry -- was ideal for running. That was especially important for Mary Unruh, who has asthma and ran the half marathon with her husband Jim.

"I've never been a runner. I never thought I could do it because of my asthma," Unruh said. "That just held me back mentally. This group helped me get over that." Members of the Baby Boot Camp group said entering the half marathon provided added motivation to stick with a training program.

"I don't think I could've done it without Boot Camp, and the support of my husband, too," Unruh said. "It's been huge. It's gotten me out there. It's made me keep up on my training." Baby Boot Camp's running moms won't be stopping now. Hinson said there are tentative plans to run the Shamrock Run in Portland in March, and that other runs will be added to the list if there is interest.

"There are a few of us thinking a little bit about the (Portland) marathon," Hinson said. "You know, I wouldn't really have considered it if I didn't know I have a group of women who would support me through getting the longer runs to train for it." Despite the pain she felt over the last few miles on Sunday, running rookie Valerie Bates said she likely will race again. The sense of accomplishment at the finish line, and the camaraderie with her Baby Boot Camp friends make the race-day pain worthwhile, she said.

"I thought it would take me three hours, and I actually did it in two hours," Bates said. "I can't imagine doing this twice, though. A whole marathon. Wow." Did you know? * Baby Boot Camp is a national fitness company serving expecting and new mothers, who are encouraged to bring their children to workouts.

* Vancouver Baby Boot Camp started in August 2005 by Cindy Keil. Currently, 35 moms regularly attend her classes, which are offered six days a week at parks, a shopping mall, and several fitness centers. To learn more, contact Keil at [email protected].

* At 13.1 miles, the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon is the longest race that Vancouver Baby Boot Camp participants have entered.

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