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Runners on the Way Up
Donna Moore: Success Falls into Place
Doug MockNovember 1997
For the Washington Running Report
"At 20 miles I was tired, but by 22 I had completely crashed." Reflections by almost any Marine Corps Marathon finisher? Specifically, these words were spoken by the women's winner, 37- year-old Donna Moore.
In the cold, rainy streets of the nation's capital, Moore stopped the clock at 2:53:42, but there was a point when she wanted the race to go on without her. "What's wrong?" her Marine escort asked her from his bike as she crossed the bridge between miles 22 and 23. "I told him, 'I don't have any energy.' and he kept saying, 'Don't stop! Keep moving!'"
Just eighteen months ago, those words were already in Moore's head. She had quickly resumed her running career after the birth of her son, Kevin. "Four weeks after he was born it started to click again, and three months after he was born I was racing." Donna is married to Michael Moore, and the family lives in Kensington, MD.
Moore in the Beginning
Back in 1980 Moore began running with a couple of her bosses who "were training for a marathon and asked me to do some runs with them." She did, and three months later ran Marine Corps in 4:17. "And, of course, afterwards I said, 'Never again.'."
Upon accomplishing their goals, her bosses returned to a more sedentary lifestyle, but Moore was hooked.
Results with Moore Training
Moore started to break forty minutes for 10K after Paul Horne "taught me how to run faster." Then in 1987 she hooked up with University of Maryland cross country coach Dan Rincon. Her 10K's dropped into the 37:00's, then the 36:00's, and finally to her personal best of 35:40.
Lately she has been running during lunch with a group who runs faster than she would on her own. "We usually run 8 miles at sub- 7:00 (minutes-per-mile) pace three or four times a week. I think it's definitely increased my aerobic capacity.
"I don't run twice a day like I used to and it takes me longer to recover from workouts, but ten years ago it was a guessing game whereas now I can predict how I'll race from my workouts." Other than that, her training hasn't changed much over the years, but her results have.
This year she chopped a minute off her half marathon best at the MS Half Marathon, then, a week after finishing a 20-mile training run, Moore PR'd at the Army 10 Miler, taking her best down from 59:10 to 58:21.
"I didn't plan to run the Marine Corps Marathon, but everyone in my running group was and I decided to also," Moore recalls. "Winning the race was great despite a disappointing finish time." With respect to running another marathon, "I might run a spring marathon, or wait until the fall and try to qualify for the Olympic Trials." Moore qualified for the 1996 Olympic Trials in the marathon.
Moore Thoughts on Running
"I don't have a coach, because that would be too major a commitment for me. My family comes first." Modesty prevents her from talking about her running very often, mainly because her supporters do it enough. "It's nice to get the attention, but I still get embarrassed. I love it when people congratulate me on the Marine Corps Marathon.
"A lot of my friends are non-runners. They couldn't believe it when I won. They knew I was a runner, but not to this degree." Getting the concept across that success in racing is not just about running fast from point A to point B on race day can sometimes be difficult. "People ask, 'You ran 8 miles under an hour (at lunch)?' They don't understand that it's hard work and I've been doing it a long time."
There's Always Time for Moore
Her identity as a runner established, Moore continues her sport because "I enjoy it. Without it I feel so 'blah.' It's like brushing my teeth - - something I do every day."
The running beat goes on, and Donna Moore keeps in stride with it.