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|  Sharon Lemberger: Learning How to Race All Over Again By George Banker July/August 2004 For the Washington Running Report
We invite you to read about Lemberger as she shares some of her
thoughts; you may find they are similar to some within yourself.
There is nothing automatic about being an athlete because it is
complex and it pulls upon many emotions. The sport of running is
a long-term commitment. You transform your lifestyle and you
question yourself at every turn and step of the way. When you
think you have reached that dream, it can quickly slip away from
you, even after you have logged 85 to 90 miles per week. Then,
you start to analyze what did you did wrong and why your body
may have failed you. Today, Lemberger has a solid foundation. She has amazing support
from her husband, her running team (Pacers/New Balance of Old
Town Alexandria), and a local training group, the Capital
Crescent Track Club, headed up by George Buckheit. Lemberger
began her running career during high school (Brien McMahon in
Norwalk, CT) and then moved on to the University of Virginia
where she walked onto the team, and graduated in August 1996
with a master's degree in nursing. Post-collegiately, Lemberger
relocated to the Washington, DC area and joined our racing scene. At this point in time, some eight years later, Lemberger has
reached a point where she can look back over her shoulder and
realize that she missed some signals along the way. The answers
were not so easy to figure out but are slowly making their way
to the forefront. It took about 45 minutes of talking with
Sharon to see that all of the pieces of the puzzle are slowly
beginning to fall into place.
"I'm learning how to run and how to race. I didn't pay much
attention to the little things like stretching and rehydration,
and now I do. I'm beginning to see that if you take care of the
little things, have some good training partners, and do the
workouts, the pieces of the puzzle begin to come together. Now,
I'm running to have fun and don't have to run a certain time. I
have my own goals. I would like to go to the U.S. Olympic Trials
in 2008. But, I don't want running to be my only goal. I want a
well-rounded life," she said. The puzzle is made up of tangible and intangible things:
lifestyle, work, training, racing, mental preparation, diet,
competition, and personal goals. Each person has a variety of
items that will affect their performance as an athlete. A snapshot from the past: Brien McMahon High School did not have
a formal distance running program. Lemberger started with the
mile and two-mile events. Her high school personal bests were
5:46 and 11:54, respectively. During the four years, she ran
indoors and outdoors and would make it to state championships,
where she placed fourth or fifth. According to Lemberger, her
high school training consisted of four to five miles a day with
very little speedwork, something that she quickly learned to do
in college. She was accepted at the University of Virginia on an academic
scholarship and joined the track team. In her first year,
training amounted to 50 to 60 miles a week and increased to 70
to 85 miles a week by her senior year. Not only did she walk on
to the team, but she was one of the top seven in cross country
by the end of her first year. She traveled with the team to
compete in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in the fall of
1991. By the spring of her second year, Lemberger made it to the
NCAA championships on her own in the 10,000 meters, starting a
trend which she continued in 1994 when she ran a personal best
of 34:30, to place second in the ACC Championships. In May 1996,
her final season at UVA, Lemberger became an ACC Champion and
was on a full scholarship. A few of the races: 16th (35:18.92) Women's 10,000m NCAA T&F Championships, Univ.
Oregon (5/96). "I've always had more endurance than speed and I'm good for the
long haul. The speed takes a lot of thought and at the longer
distances, I'm more competitive," said Lemberger. After graduation, her first job was at Georgetown University
Hospital on the pediatric inpatient floor. She continued to
train for her first marathon after finishing her final season at
UVA in June. She chose to run the 21st Marine Corps Marathon in
October 1996; she was the second place female finisher in a time
of 2:53:04. She commented, "I didn't know what I could do and I
was scared. I was training on my own. Everyone was shocked. I
even went into work that night at 11 pm, as scheduled, since I
was a new nurse and had no idea how fast I would run." She joined the Pacers/New Balance Racing Team in 1998. In April
she ran the 102nd Boston Marathon and finished in 3:06:14. "I
ran Boston because my Dad had always wanted to see me run it. He
died a few months later from a heart attack related to his
battle with kidney disease," she said. Lemberger went on to compete and reached her goal of qualifying
for the 2000 Olympic Marathon Trials at the 1999 LaSalle Bank
Chicago Marathon, where she finished with a time of 2:49:23, a
personal best. Due to illness, she had to drop out at mile 21 of
the Trials race in Columbia, South Carolina. "I had never dropped out of a race. It was hot and I was sick
earlier that week. It was an amazing experience," she said. In June 2002, Lemberger gave it another shot at making the
Olympic Trials for 2004 at Grandma's Marathon. She ran 2:48:06
with a half-marathon split of 1:22:59. She added, "It was a
great race and I did all that I said I wanted to do, but fell
six seconds short of qualifying." "In the fall of 2002, I was given a chance to train with Team
USA at a training camp in Mammoth Lakes, CA where we did 110
miles a week for a month. It did let me know that I could do
more mileage, but I wanted more in my life than just running,"
she said. In Mammoth Lakes, Lemberger had the opportunity of a
lifetime to train with the best, including Deena Drossin Kastor,
Jennifer Rhines, Amy Rudolph, Terrance Mahon, and others.
Lemberger had a great time and learned that she could definitely
make running her main priority in life. However, she wanted more
from life. So, she took some of the tools she learned from Coach
Joe Vigil and applied them to her training program back here in
DC. She returned to work as a nurse practitioner with
adolescents at Georgetown University Hospital. Lemberger needed
to have a little bit of everything to make her happy and run
well. "The goal for 2004 is first and foremost to enjoy running and
second, to learn how to race again. I want to do some of the
local races and to travel to some of those races I have always
wanted to do, such as the Broad Street 10-Miler which I ran this
past May. I am running about 50 miles per week. Running with the
other girls (referring to the Capital Crescent Track Club) keeps
me going. If it weren't fun I would not be doing it. The
camaraderie is great," Lemberger said. Her new focus will have its rewards over the following years,
with her goal of making it back to the Olympic Trials in 2008. A
review of some of the prior races reflects a solid foundation.
The pieces of the puzzle are known and it's just a matter of
putting them in the right order. That will have Lemberger on the
starting line in 2008!
5K 14th (17:17.51) Women Olympic Development 5000m, 110th Penn Relays (4/04). 8th (18:47) By George 5K (2/04). 1st (18:13) 6th Mitzvah 5K (6/03). 1st (17:25) Mitzvah 5K (6/02). 7th (18:34) Metro Run Walk 5K For Women, VA (5/01). 2nd (17:31) 2nd Runner's Roost Race 5K, CT (1997).
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