No matter their individual reasons, each of them came together with about 50 other runners and walkers – as they do every Saturday morning – in the early hours July 7 at La Purisima Mission with one goal: to be as ready as possible for this year’s Valley of the Flowers Half Marathon.
The group is led Bob Lingl, a Lompoc city councilman, who is in his fifth year of organizing the free training sessions. The July 7 meeting was the fourth of 13 weekly sessions scheduled to take place in advance of the 36th annual half marathon, which is slated for Sept. 22 along the same trails that the walkers and runners traverse each Saturday morning.
Many of the participants are new to distance running, according to Lingl, who said he enjoys seeing new people give the sport a try.
“They get into it and they find out that running is actually easy, because you don’t need a lot of equipment,” he said. “We’re out here with a pair of running shoes. You don’t need a fancy bicycle or equipment or a gymnasium, all you need is your body and a pair of shoes.”
While Lingl estimated that about 30 of the 50 people were first-year members of the group, there were some who were back after extended breaks.
Kendall said that she and her husband, Rick, had participated in the group three years ago, but didn’t make it all the way through. Both she and her husband are back this year, and she said they fully intend to go the distance.
“I’d like to get myself healthy, stay healthy and I’d also just like to do a half marathon,” she said. Part of the appeal of the group is just that – that it’s a group. Many walkers and runners, both novice and experienced, are aided by having others around to help push them.
“Running is sort of a lonely sport,” Lingl said. “If you’re out there running by yourself or on a treadmill, it is lonely. Some call it ‘boring.’ We try to find ways to not make it boring. You’ve got the camaraderie of the group here, and it’s a support system.”
Kendall said she’s experienced those benefits.
“It’s really inspirational,” she said. “The fact that we’ve come back proves that. It took us a few years, but we came back.”
Along with the other walkers and runners, Kendall and her husband were also aided by the presence of their cocker spaniel, Lady Jane of Holland – “We inherited her, with the name,” she said – who walked with them at the July 7 session.
In addition to the physical training that each participant goes through in the progressively tougher sessions, there is also a lot of educational training. The early meetings have featured speakers who have provided insight on various aspects of distance running. Past speakers have included an equipment specialist who advised the runners on proper footwear and attire, and a physician who led a discussion on injury prevention and care.
At the most recent meeting, the group was joined by Jo Bergstrom, a registered dietician who works at the Lompoc Valley Medical Center. Bergstrom gave a 30-minute presentation on proper nutrition, which was followed by a brief Q&A session with the runners and walkers in attendance.
Lingl said Bergstrom’s session was perhaps the most vital, as he likened the importance of proper nutrition and diet on the body to that of proper fluids in a race car.
“Our body is our automobile and we’re going to be racing it, so we need to make sure we put the proper fuel in it to race,” he said. “If halfway through the race we start running out of fuel or if we haven’t tuned our automobile properly, it’s going to start having problems and we won’t be able to finish. Nutrition is one of the most important parts of training.”
One of the more experienced members of the group is Campos, a power walker, who has participated in the group since it began five years ago. Campos and her husband often walk the trails at the Mission on weekdays and are out every Saturday, sometimes with their dogs.
Campos said she has already participated in two marathons this year – in Rome in March and the Galapagos Islands in May – and has competed in at least one on every continent. Yes, that includes Antarctica.
“That was the most challenging, with the weather and the conditions,” she said of the Antarctic marathon on St. George Island. “We had 40 mph winds, no matter which direction you faced, and we had to go up a glacier twice. That was extremely challenging.”
Given those conditions, she said the Lompoc race is a breeze in comparison. Both she and Lingl agree, though, that training on the Lompoc trails can help a runner or walker prepare for just about any course. “There’s the hills, but it’s also not an always even terrain,” Lingl said. “We’re not on a grassy place or on pavement. There’s a little bit of everything here for a runner.”
Following the presentation by Bergstrom on July 7, the runners and walkers took off for 5 miles of training throughout the winding trails. By week 13, they will be up to 13.5 miles, the length of the half marathon. One of the most rewarding aspects of the sessions for Lingl is that many of the participants will continue to walk and run along the trails throughout the year, well after the half marathon ends in September.
“Once people train with us, you’ll see them out here on Saturdays all year long,” he said.
That camaraderie also remains.
“They become your friends,” Campos added, “even if you don’t know their names.”