Pitt students go long in marathon

Two years ago, Pitt student Amanda Illar ran the last four miles of the Pittsburgh marathon… Two years ago, Pitt student Amanda Illar ran the last four miles of the Pittsburgh marathon as part of a relay team. As she ran past mile marker 24 among the many people who began at the starting line, she felt as though she didn?t belong with them.

?I just didn?t feel right only running four miles,? she said.

That moment inspired her to run the entire race.

Illar was supposed to run in her first marathon last year, but a broken foot kept her from participating in the Pittsburgh Marathon. She was determined to make it through the race this year, though.

?I?m not a real fast runner,? she said. ?I just thought it would be cool.?

Pitt students Ian Ehrlich and Julia Edwards also ran in this year?s marathon, which passed through Oakland around mile 12. Ehrlich started running last year, while Edwards said she ran cross-country in high school and competed in last year?s marathon.

Unlike many other participants, Illar said she had not trained extensively for the run, which was held on Sunday morning, May 4. She said she had run a few times for about an hour and once for two hours but, beyond that, she did not train for the nearly five and a half hours of running she needed to complete the 26.2 mile marathon.

?Really, I don?t know how I am still walking,? she said two days after the race.

Ehrlich said, during the past four months, he ran about 50 miles a week, and his longest run before the marathon was 22 miles. But many of those runs were done on dirt?not pavement?because the dirt was easier on his knees.

Ehrlich?s training style may have hurt his marathon time, he said. He wanted to try to run the marathon within four hours, but he hurt his ankle and knee while running on the street and had to limp the last ten miles to the finish line ? bringing his finishing time closer to five hours.

Edwards said after she decided to run the marathon during the fall, she began running everywhere.

It took Illar five hours and 27 minutes to finish the race, she said. The first 16 miles were the easiest because she was running with her dad and had someone with whom to talk. After that, her dad needed to keep running to prevent his knees from getting stiff, while she needed to walk for some of the time to fight off muscle cramps.

Like other runners, Illar described the final few miles as the toughest.

?I think miles 22 and 23 took forever,? she said. ?You were not quite done, but still a lot [was] done.?

As she approached the final miles and saw Heinz Field ? the finishing line ? in the distance, she wished someone else could come and take her place, but she said she knew she was the only one who could finish it.

?I was really nervous before the run that I wouldn?t be able to finish,? she added. ?You know how it is to finish the semester? This was bigger than that. It was really, really an amazing accomplishment.?

During the last few miles, the support from the crowds became more important, according to Ehrlich, whose father and brother also ran in the marathon.

According to Edwards, though, the toughest part of the run came a bit earlier than mile 22 or 23.

?[At miles] 18 and 19, all of your body cramps up and your mind goes all delirious,? she said. But she added that, by mile 24, she had regained all of her strength.

This year, Edwards ran the marathon at three hours and 50 minutes, beating her time last year of four hours and 20 minutes.

Ehrlich and Edwards both said they are looking into running another marathon. Ehrlich said he was planning to run in the Chicago marathon in October and wanted to train to qualify for next year?s Boston marathon ? and the training, this time, would include running on the pavement at least once a week.

Edwards said she might run in the Columbus, Ohio marathon, which should be easier because it won?t have as many hills as Pittsburgh.

Illar has no plans on running a marathon again soon, but she said next year she will probably be running again.

?One marathon a year is enough, really,? she said.

She added that she encourages everyone to run in a marathon. The run itself is not hard, it just takes ?discipline, patience and more patience,? she said.