In the few weeks leading up to the Eugene Half and Full Marathon, we’ll be featuring our Team Run Hub athletes on the blog to give you a peek into their backgrounds, goals and training. Enjoy!
Katie Fitch is a 31-year-old pursuing a PhD in Critical and Sociocultural Studies in Education at the University of Oregon. She has been running for 10+ years.
When and why did you start running?
I started running in college. I was a competitive swimmer growing up and decided not to swim in college. I needed a new athletic outlet and started running. I ran my first half marathon my sophomore of college and have been running races ever since.
Why did you sign up for the #teamrunhub training program?
I moved to Eugene in September for grad school and left behind a great training team in Houston. I loved the camaraderie of training with a group so I signed up to find a new training community in my new town. I am excited to run my sixth marathon here in Eugene.
What are your goals for the Eugene half/full Marathon? What pace(ish) are you planning to run during the race?
My goal for the Eugene Marathon is to have fun and enjoy the race. I am excited to start and finish on the historic track at Hayward Field. It is a place that holds so much meaning to the track and field community and it is awesome to get to finish the marathon on such a meaningful track. I hope to run around an 8:30 pace.
What has been your favorite part of being a member of the training group?
My favorite part has been having great people to run with during long runs on Saturday mornings. I have also enjoyed the painful, but highly beneficial foam rolling classes on Sundays (at the store with Kristen Tucker).
What has been the most challenging part of your training?
The most challenging part has been to be okay that I will not run a PR this marathon and to just enjoy the pace I am running at right now even if it is not as fast as I have run in the past.
In terms of training, sometimes the workouts I hate the most are also the ones that push me the most and improve my fitness and speed, so the next day they are the ones I tend to love. During this training period, the workout that was most challenging was the 13 mile Saturday long run where Dustin asked us to the push the pace as much as possible. I felt like I was running a half marathon without the benefit of a cheering crowd and water stops. It hurt, but I was proud of myself for the effort I made.
Tell us: Are you running the Eugene Half or Full Marathon? What are your goals? Do you find that sometimes the hardest/worst workouts at the time become the best ones later?
