On her daily jog, English teacher Ms. Erica Dolter imagines the seconds before her half marathon begins at the dawn of Feb. 7 at Huntington Beach. As she envisions herself taking her mark and smiling at the proud faces of her family, a sharp pain explodes in her leg, jolting her back to reality.
Since early October, Ms. Dolter has been recuperating from an injury caused by overtraining for the Huntington Beach Half Marathon. The impact of running on hard surfaces and increasing distance too rapidly caused stess on the tendon. She can no longer exceed four miles without enduring extreme pain.
To combat this, Ms. Dolter compresses her leg, takes Aleve and pushes past the pain.
Although she trains four to five days a week and about 4-4.3 miles each time, her injuries affected her original regimen for adding distance, so she now adds one to two miles per run to catch up to her initial plans and meet her personal goals.
“My goal is to complete my first half marathon without stopping to walk, Ms. Dolter said. “I decided to return to running after my third baby was born because I was tired of lacking energy and being out of shape. I’d like to complete a goal on my bucket list: The Tinkerbell Half-Marathon”
Despite injuries, Ms. Dolter stays motivated due to encouragement from her family.
“Giving up of course crosses my mind, especially when running hills,” Ms. Dolter said. “Making my kids proud is probably my greatest motivation. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing my kids and husband cheering at the finish line. Making my parents proud is another motivation. My dad was my very first running partner and still comes to my races today.”
Ms. Dolter is not the only teacher to run a marathon. A plethora of TCHS teachers, including English teacher Mr. Ryan Hoague, Chemistry teacher Ms. Debbie Gewecke, English teacher Ms. Sarah Penalora, English teacher Ms. Dawn Neufeld and Cross Country Coach Mr. Mike Tomasulo have also run half or full marathons.
“I love running,” Ms. Penalora said. “I think it’s the best way to be healthy in mind, body and spirit. I’m excited that our English Department continues to purse this kind of activity.”
Aside from the half marathon she is training for, Ms. Dolter also ran the Megan’s Wings 5k in Upland on Sept. 26, which benefitted pediatric cancer patients and research.
“The best thing about running a race is the sense of accomplishment and rush of adrenaline at the finish line,” Ms. Dolter said. “I love realizing I can push my body past the limits I had initially set for myself. It’s exhilarating.”