An Interview with Maureen Ackerly

Though Maureen Ackerly did not begin running until her mid 30s, she qualified for the Olympic Trials at the age of 39, winning this month's Napa Valley Marathon in 2:44:25.

Boston Athletic Association: You didn’t run in high school or college – when did you first become interested in running competitively?

Maureen Ackerly: I had run a few marathons recreationally in my 20’s. In my early 30’s, I was training for another marathon – Boston, in fact – when I met my future husband, who coached high school track. I asked him if he would give me a few tips. I eventually got injured (shin splints, basically) and never ran that spring in Boston. The following fall, I ran 3:08 in Richmond, a personal best by about 30 minutes and I felt great the entire race.

B.A.A.: Did you compete in other sports growing up?

M.A.: I have an older brother, so I was a bit of a tomboy. I swam and played softball and field hockey in high school, but athletics at the collegiate level was never on my radar screen.

B.A.A.: What led you to the marathon distance?

M.A.: I started running in college just to stay in shape and really loved that time each day. In law school, I ran a local half marathon and realized that I would never have a more flexible schedule to train for a full marathon. I entered the New York City Marathon and was so nervous that I wouldn’t be able to finish that I didn’t tell anyone I was even running until the night before. In the final mile, a man running next to me said “Keep it up. You’re just inside the Boston window.” I was such a novice; I had no idea what he meant.

B.A.A.: You qualified for the Olympic Trials by running a personal best 2:44:25 at the Napa Valley Marathon – was qualifying your primary goal in that race?

M.A.: Absolutely. Qualifying was the only goal. I ran with a terrific group of women with the same goal and I bet none of us cared how we placed so long as we qualified.

B.A.A.: Take us through the race and comment on what it meant for you to run that time and qualify?

M.A.: The race coordinators did a fantastic job setting things up for the “elite” women, contacting us a few weeks before the race and offering to bring us together the day before to meet and get briefed on USATF rules. In fact, this was the main reason I decided at the last minute to fly out for the race. I had read a press release about some of the other women trying to qualify at Napa and talked briefly with Tom McGlynn, who qualified for the Men’s Trials there last year with the same strategy approaching the race. We had a group of about a half-dozen women who were all on the same page, all had the same goal, and all were very supportive of each other. It made for a lot of positive energy and was a great comfort during the race.

The weather on race day was beautiful – sunny with a good breeze which was mostly at our backs. The first half of the Napa Valley course is more rolling with some downhill sections I was leery of, not having run them before. At that point, I was running at about a 2:44-2:45 pace, but my plan was to go out more conservatively, around 2:46 or so, then hopefully run a negative split.

The group dynamic helped enormously. Caroline Annis, who had already qualified, was an official pacesetter and led us through mile 18 right on a 6:19-6:20 pace, so just under 2:46. After Caroline dropped out, four of us – Claudia Becque, Shalluin Fullove, Mary Coordt and I – ran as a pack together for another few miles.

Somewhere between miles 22 and 23 we started to split up. I think each of us felt encouraged that we were actually going to qualify and decided to stay with whatever rhythm felt comfortable to finish. I passed Claudia for the lead with about a mile to go, when I knew I could hold it together and just wanted to get to the finish line.

After I crossed the finish like, I was more stunned at first than anything. Then when I saw my husband, I began sobbing. He asked if I was hurt and I told him that I wasn’t, I was just so happy. It was almost cathartic, all those years and all those miles, and then everything happens to line up and you actually achieve your goal.

B.A.A.: You were going to run the Boston Marathon if you didn’t qualify – but now that you're in the Olympic Trials, will you tailor your training any differently given that the race is on a different type of course?

M.A.: I think we’ll work more on turns and less on hills.

B.A.A.: Talk a little bit about your first Boston Marathon experience back in 1999 – and what it means to have the Olympic Trials here this year.

M.A.: I remember my first (and only) Boston Marathon as if it were yesterday. I had previously run only a handful of organized races and didn’t know anyone at the race. I remember sitting on the football field in the hours before the race and listening to other runners’ conversations – “Did you run Chicago?” “Did you run Grandma’s?” – feeling as if I were at a Grateful Dead show where people were asking “Were you at Red Rocks?” “Were you at Hampton?” There was this amazing subculture of people who shared an intense love – in this case for running -- and I was both awed and utterly terrified that I was out of my depth. But I loved every minute of the race and have always considered it a hallowed experience.

B.A.A.: What are some of the difficulties of training for a marathon while taking on “Mom duties” at home?

M.A.: I am blessed to have a husband who helps with anything and everything at home and who has very consciously made this quest a “team effort.”

Our kids (a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old) have never known a life without a daily run in the jogger (pushed by Dad), and on days when Mommy has a long run, they play “support crew” and make sure I have my water bottles. It doesn’t hurt having a sausage biscuit stop on “support crew” days, a treat they don’t get at home. My husband’s parents have been a godsend and de facto members of the “support crew,” hosting grandparent breakfasts when we need to go to the track and sleepovers when we’ve had to go out of town.

Probably the hardest time for me mentally was last fall, while training for Chicago and then Richmond. We eventually skipped Chicago due to weather, but in the week before each race the kids came home from preschool with various viruses which I promptly picked up. I confess feeling some “After all of this training, why now, why me?” self-pity, but quickly realized that this comes with the territory of being a parent. Being a mother is what I am first and foremost, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

B.A.A.: What is it like to have your husband Ben also serving as your coach?

M.A.: Sometimes I feel as if I’m cheating, not by taking drugs, but by having Ben as my coach and husband. He’s a born teacher with a voracious mind and spirit . . . and it doesn’t hurt that he’s an incredibly gifted athlete. So much of my training has been customized depending on how I feel on a day-to-day basis, so living together and communicating consistently is how we’ve always worked. He’s also extremely patient and intuitive, so even when I’m not the best student, he’s still managed to help me improve. He’s the glue that holds my running and my family together.

B.A.A.: You’re also an award-winning lawyer - How do you balance your career and your running?

M.A.: My firm, McGuireWoods, has been extremely supportive, both of my running and of women and working mothers in general. After I won the Richmond Marathon in 2006, which was the first time many of my co-workers became aware that I was a runner, Richard Cullen, our Managing Partner, called me to his office and said “Tell me about your running. Tell me what you want to do. And tell me what we can do to help?” I was completely overwhelmed. McGuire Woods is one of the biggest law firms in the country and they’ve supported me as an individual. It also helps that I love what I do and the people I work with. Add that with modern technology and I can arrange my schedule to accommodate training in the morning and work in the evening.

B.A.A.: What has been the biggest challenge of your running career?

M.A.: Believing in myself; that I could actually run fast enough to be part of this elite group of women I admire so much. Again, I credit my husband, who before my first post-children marathon put a poster above our tub where I take ice baths after hard runs. The poster shows runners coming over a bridge with an Eleanor Roosevelt quote beneath: “Believe in yourself. You must do that which you think you cannot.” "Believe" has become my mantra during each marathon. My husband is the one who first suggested trying to qualify, and he is the single-most reason I did.

B.A.A.: How has your training evolved over the years, since you first took up the sport?

M.A.: I’ve gone from running the same pace and the same distance ever day (i.e., no conscious training) to focusing on strengths and weaknesses and taking an informed approach to training. Sometimes I feel as if we’re just at the tip of the iceberg in terms of learning what works best.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that running on the track beats me up a bit, so I don’t do much of that anymore and keep my focus on threshold and progression runs. In terms of weekly mileage, I’ve slowly built up to a max in the low 80s. I do a fair amount of running on our treadmill at home, sometimes as much as 50 percent of my mileage, mostly to give my legs a break from the roads. Injury prevention has also become more of a focus over the last few years. I spend more time on core exercises and stretches that I’ve found helpful through a lot of trial and error. And sleep has become more and more of a priority.

B.A.A.: Do you have any goals or expectations for the Olympic Trials that you're willing to share?

M.A.: It is such an honor to participate in this race and it will be a dream come true just to finish. Not having run many marathons in such a short period of time, running the Trials just seven weeks after my last marathon may be tough, so I don’t plan on putting pressure on myself in terms of performance. I just want to enjoy the day.

B.A.A.: What are your goals for the 2008 season, beyond the Olympic Trials?

M.A.: I will probably take some time off from marathons, but I’m already wondering if I can qualify for the 2012 Trials in my forties.

B.A.A.: Who has been your biggest influence in running?

M.A.: When I was in law school, I met Mary Wittenberg while working one summer at the law firm where she practiced in Richmond. The firm was putting together a team for the Lynchburg Ten Miler and I volunteered, not knowing that Mary was a Trials qualifier. I was definitely the weak link on the team, but with Mary we had a ringer and won (Mary and Bill Rodgers led the pack). I’ve idolized Mary ever since, as she transferred to New York and made partner, left to become General Counsel of the New York Road Runners Club, then became President and CEO of NYRRC and Race Director of the New York City Marathon, and in the interim married and became the mother of two beautiful boys. To me, Mary is the face, voice and passion of American distance running today, not to mention a role model for my daughter and me.

B.A.A.: Who else inspires you?

M.A.: I have a family member who struggles with mental illness, but works hard every day to be well for herself and her family. That’s true strength, courage and perseverance. That’s true greatness.

B.A.A.: What is something interesting that the running community may not know about you?

M.A.: There’s nothing like an eight-minute ice bath.

Interview conducted for the B.A.A. by Jake Duhaime.