http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5443056.htmlDoug Grow: In the long run, two of a kind Doug Grow, Minneapolis Star Tribune
June 7, 2005
Some things are meant to be.
Sue Olsen, for example, apparently is meant to win the women's division of the annual
24-hour FANS road race. Starting at 8 a.m. Saturday and finishing Sunday morning, Olsen, 48, won by covering 119.64 miles over the 24 hours of 2.4 mile laps around Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. It was her 13th victory in this grueling event. She finished third overall, about 10 miles behind men's winner
Scott Eppelman, a Texan.
"It is getting harder every year," Olsen said Monday. "My recovery time takes longer all the time."
Almost as remarkable as her performance was that of a boy,
John Miles Olsen, who turns 10 in a few weeks. He covered 32.71 miles over the 24-hour period, taking time out for a soccer game Saturday.
It may be that John Miles was born to run.
On the day before he was born, John Miles' mother, the remarkable Sue, ran 62 miles.
That 62-mile run was in a 24-hour race. That's right, 24 hours before delivering a baby, Sue, roundly, was running laps around Lake Harriet.
Thus that middle name, Miles.
"Kind of a joke," Sue said.
Back then, many people criticized her for running that race. But she had permission from her doctor, who had told her as long as she was careful, all would be OK.
She talked with her doctor again before young John Miles entered his first 24-hour race two years ago.
"The doctor said that as long as adults aren't pushing them, kids won't push themselves to the point of getting hurt," she said.
No pushingOlsen doesn't push her son to follow her footsteps.
"He wants to do this," she said.
"It's fun," he said after school Monday. "When you're running, people are saying hi to you, things like that."
It should be noted that he's always accompanied by an adult when on the course, and often by friends or relatives who join him for a lap or two.
Mother and son approach distance running differently.
Sue Olsen, who will be a member of the U.S. 24-hour team that will compete in Austria next month, trains a relatively modest 40 miles a week for these 24-hour grinds. She also runs in six or seven marathons each year across the country as a "pace runner" for Clif Bars.
For instance, as a "pace runner" at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth on June 18, Olsen, toting balloons so she can be seen, will be running at a pace for runners who hope to complete the marathon in 4 hours, 15 minutes. She doesn't get paid for these runs, but she does get expenses to travel for the company that produces supplement bars.
The marathons are good training runs.
John Miles' training is more fourth grade-ish. Before the race over the weekend, his training consisted of once running during recess.
Mother and son started at 8 a.m. Saturday, but after a couple of hours, John Miles left with Tom, husband, father and part of the Olsen running crew, for a soccer game. After the game, the two bought some groceries, went home, hung out, then, John was returned to the course.
All the while, Sue was running.
The four-hour markThe hardest point of a 24-hour race, she said, comes at about the four-hour mark.
"I think that's when I've burned up all my glycogen (a chemical stored in the muscles which is turned into glucose on an as-needed basis) and start burning fat. It's just a blah period. I know it will pass in about 20 minutes."
The nights get long. A friend,
Kim Wright, joined Sue from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. for this event.
"I was doing a lot of walking then," Olsen said. "If I started walking slow, Kim would say, 'OK, now, let's pick up the pace.' "
John Miles said for him the toughest part was trying to sleep about 1:30 Sunday morning in the family van. He had put in 25 miles during the course of the day.
"It's hard to sleep when you're sore," he said.
But he did sleep for a few hours, before rising around 6 a.m. to complete another seven miles, which put his total well beyond his goal of 26 miles.
It should be noted there's much that is normal about this Burnsville family.
Sue graduated from Mankato State this spring and was interviewing for a teaching position Monday. The household is filled with pets (cats, a couple of dogs, two corn snakes). John Miles plays basketball and soccer. There's a garden and a boat.
By Monday afternoon, John Miles looked like most healthy fourth-graders.
Sue, wincing with each step, had walked down the hill to greet her son at the bus stop.
The boy was hanging by his arms from a tree branch.
"I guess he's doing better than I am," she said.
Doug Grow is at
dgrow@startribune.com.
