Central High Teacher Runs Half Marathon

Editor’s Note: Amy Dupree is an Advanced Math and Calculus teacher at Central High School.  She is also a wife and mother.  She recently ran her first half marathon with her best friend, Julie.  This is her story:

by Amy Dupree

CENTRAL — Here’s a picture of my best friend since 5th grade, Julie Hile, and me after we finished the Chicago Half Marathon on Sept. 11, 2011.  Back in March, Julie called me and said, “Let’s do something fun together!”  She is a mother of three, and her husband Eric wanted to run with us.

Julie and I met at church in our hometown of Longview, Texas, but we went to different high schools.  We attended East Texas Baptist University after high school.

Julie lives in Atlanta.  So we hadn’t seen each other for a long time.  We had been planning to get together soon, and Julie had the idea to participate in the Chicago Half Marathon together.  For some crazy reason, I agreed.  I have always worked out, but I was never a runner.  When I started training for the half, I couldn’t run the distance of four houses in my subdivision.

After I registered for the race online, I looked for a training plan for a half marathon (13.1 miles).  The only problem was that they began with a distance of three miles!  I already told you that I couldn’t run the length of four houses without having to stop!

My first goal was to run a mile without stopping.  I used my GPS to measure a one mile distance in my subdivision.  Every time I worked out, I would run more and walk less.  Finally, I could do a mile.  So I pushed to do two.  I set a goal to run a 5K in April, because the 5K is about three miles. Slowly, I built up my endurance, and then I participated in a 5K at LSU.

Through May, I worked on doing a steady three miles with as little walking as possible.  I started the half marathon training program in June because it was a 12-week plan.   Julie started the same plan at the same time, so we would be training together.  Soon I could go a distance of four miles, then five, then six!  (Six miles is a 10k!)

It was really hard to train in the heat and humidity of summer.  I had to get up before the sun did!   I woke up at 5 every Saturday morning to do my long runs, and my last long run before the half marathon was 12 miles.  I used an app on my cell phone to measure my distance and record my routes, pace and time.   Julie and I would call each other for encouragement and motivation.  Two weeks before the race, I did 12 miles.  I figured that if I could do 12, with all the excitement and adrenaline of race day, I could make it 13.1.

When the big day came, I was really excited and ready to complete my goal.  I wasn’t concerned with having the best time.  My only goal was to cross the finish line in the three-hour race time.

Race day was so much fun.  Everyone was so positive and encouraging to the runners.  There were bands and cheerleaders at every water station.  There was a fire truck from New York that had been involved in 9/11, and the race participants wore red, white and blue in honor of the special day (9/11/11).

Our medals even had flags on the ribbon!  I can’t describe the rush of crossing that finish line!  All the hard work was so worth it!