Sarah on running (and rock!)….

Too good not to steal, over at Ace HQ, an article on Sarah from Runners’ World

Do you listen to music during your runs?
I go through cycles there, too. Right now I’m not listening to anything but probably in a month or two I’ll start craving music. That’s the way it’s been for the 35 years. Parts of the year I want to listen to something, parts of the year I don’t. When I do listen, I crank up old Van Halen, old AC/DC

Song change!! Ricky on the Ace thread points out the perfect song for this post:

*Song courtesy of redbirdfan126:

From the 1984 album. I’d like to take the time to say Fuck You, WMG. That is all.

Oh yeah baby, I knew this woman was fabulous, there she goes confirming it again, listens to classic hard rock and quotes Plato, runs miles and miles, I think she’s awesome… :0) h/t pajamamomma for the quote

…But the most precious experience I’ve had running was a few summers ago when I was training for a marathon and my son Track—and I named him Track for running—would drive out in front of me and plant water bottles along the route. I felt so spoiled, like the queen of the running world to have a kid who was all cool with his pickup truck, dropping off water for me on my long runs. And he’d put a note on the bottles, saying, “Love you, mom” and “Run hard, mom.” It was just the most precious summer of my life to have that and then to cap it off with an all-time marathon best [3:59:36]. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the whole world….

And so what’s your rock?
First and foremost, like my Mom’s inspiration has always been, I have my faith in God. Then I have all the preparation, so I know I can get through it. It’s kind of like I’ve been there before and the best part of the rock I can call upon is the preparation that allows me to know that I can get through it. Looking back I’m really thankful for all my less than pleasant running experiences because I learned through each one and I can put it all to good use being the CEO of a state full of diverse views and personalities and issues. My social fabric was forged through running. We like to be active and outdoors with friends and family whether it’s running or skiing or snow machining. We live on a lake so it’s awesome to play in the water in the summertime and to build an ice rink in the wintertime. We like to have other people participate in these activities with us because, as Plato said, “You learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Todd has had businesses all these years and he’s brought potential employees with him out on snow machine rides and up to our cabin so he could see what they’re made of. So we’ve put that love of sports into how we run our businesses, and that’s worked well too.

So are you one to invite political friends or foes out for a run or a game of basketball?
Yes, mostly, though, with my kids. When my three teenagers have their friends over, we play one-on-one or horse and I like to see if they’re going to whine and hack and cuss and foul or if they’re going to be out there having a good time and working hard.

In terms of wanting to get out there with political friends, I used to joke around with John McCain during the campaign about coming jogging with me. And once I asked him what his favorite exercise was, and he said, ‘I go wading.’ Wading. He lives on a creek in Arizona, so he goes wading. That cracked me up. (that cracks MiM up too!!)

…Is there anything else the world should know about you as a runner?
The only other thing I’d like to add is I’ve been very fortunate to be a recipient of all the efforts people put into Title IX all those years ago where girls got equal opportunity to participate in sports and extracurricular activities because sports growing up were my world. I’m so thankful for Title IX allowing equal access to these opportunities, and I’m a huge proponent of girls being able to realize what they’re made of by participating in sports and whatever I can do there I’m going to be doing….