How a Mom of 7 Qualified for the Boston Marathon

DFW Running Talk: Angela Awald
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Chris Detzel: [00:00:00] Welcome to DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel, so let's get started.

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Welcome to another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel. Before I get with my special guest today, this is a 10 part series where I interview 10 people that are going to Boston Marathon this year. And we wanna hear their story. It's only 10 to 15, 15, maybe 20 minutes depends. But our special guest is Angela Awal.

Angela, how are you?

Angela Awald: I'm great. How are you?

Chris Detzel: I'm doing well. Thanks for coming on. So interesting.

Angela Awald: Thanks for having me.

Chris Detzel: So let's talk about it. So this is your first Boston marathon that you're gonna be running? 2026.

Angela Awald: It's, it is my first all, it's my fifth marathon, but my first Boston marathon.

Chris Detzel: Wow. Okay. So let's go quickly, let's talk a little bit about your history of your marathons. We don't necessarily have to go to all of 'em, but maybe the first kind of why you get started and then this last one and how you qualified and all that kinda stuff.

Angela Awald: Okay. Sounds good. I didn't start running until about.

2015. I was in my thirties. Okay. I had already had, I had already had [00:02:00] six kids at that point.

Chris Detzel: Wow.

Angela Awald: And I had a miscarriage that summer and felt like I needed to do something and I had postpartum depression and seasonal depression, and I was just feeling all of it. So I felt like I needed to, trust my body again.

So I started running and yeah, first it was with the, the jogging stroller, the double jogger. So not a great weight to start. It's discouraging. Tough, but we should, we tough with it. And I've progressed through, did you know the 5K, the 10 k half marathon the next year, but it wasn't until 2019 that I ran my first marathon.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Angela Awald: That was Wineglass Marathon in upstate New York.

Chris Detzel: I've done that half, I've done that half marathon there. My wife did before. Yeah. Yeah.

Angela Awald: Yeah, it's a great marathon. We've been back since then and plan to go back this fall, so we love it. And I came in at 4 0 1, pretty average, nothing spectacular.

Pretty

Chris Detzel: good for your first

Angela Awald: Yeah, it was good for my first, especially looking back, knowing how little training I did.

So I was supposed to do it the next year. But COVID hit [00:03:00] and surprise, we were having a seventh baby. 17.

Chris Detzel: So what's your youngest and oldest?

Angela Awald: My oldest will be 23 next month.

Chris Detzel: Wow. Okay.

Angela Awald: And my youngest is four.

Chris Detzel: Wow.

Angela Awald: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: That's

Angela Awald: crazy. Yes. I have three adult children who are 18 and above, and several who are quite young yet. Yeah, so that, that marathon was out. I actually stopped running during that pregnancy. Lot of complication. I was, 45. So took my time getting back into it, feeling know.

I felt old. I felt old at the time, but now I know it really wasn't because I've only gotten faster. Yeah. I never thought I could qualify for Boston. And then, I started seeing some friends just being consistent. I joined up with some morning mother runners in our, my community and got consistent and started getting faster and thought, you know what?

Maybe what if what, and that question propelled it. I decided to, I had done a couple of races, [00:04:00] postpartum and they were lackluster. I couldn't devote anything to training, so I decided to take all races off the calendar until, I think it was November of 24. I said I would go and run Philly and see if I could qualify, and at that time, the qualifying was three 50.

But then in the middle of that training, they changed it to 3 45. So I was like what if I don't know what if? So I went into it with an IT band injury. It was, I overtrained, I, it was, I was too gung ho to prove something to myself, I think. But I came in at 3 40, 5 21,

Chris Detzel: that was huge progress.

Angela Awald: It was huge progress, and then I catch myself for stopping at the porta-potty. It

Chris Detzel: happens,

Angela Awald: there's those 21 seconds. So I said that, that was really good progress. Let's see what else we can do. So I signed up for the Buffalo Marathon for the following spring in May, and I pulled back on the mileage a little bit.

My goal was to use that training block just to get strong and not lose fitness. I focused on strength training and being really consistent [00:05:00] without any injuries. That's

Chris Detzel: good. Yeah.

Angela Awald: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: I like the strength training. I'm glad you brought that in.

Angela Awald: Yeah. Yeah. I felt here I was forties at the time.

No, I was 48. I take that back 48. So I felt like I just really needed to do a lot of strength training if I wanted to do this, long term. So I went into it feeling more fit than I'd ever felt, but not still, not really sure of what I was capable of, but it was one of those perfect race mornings.

Like the temperature was cool, which is unheard of, on Memorial Day weekend. Yeah. Especially in

Chris Detzel: Buffalo, I guess Buffalo gets hot. I guess

Angela Awald: It does, and usually we have a cool spring and then it's, 80 degrees that day. So I didn't have any real goal going in other than to be as fit as I could and see what I could do.

And I qualified. I ran 3 39 46 and was ecstatic, like I didn't even know it was possible in fifth in my age group. I never. Done that at a marathon before,

Chris Detzel: you're becoming fast, really fast. That's great.

Angela Awald: Yeah, it was great. I'll fast forward in, in [00:06:00] October I ran 3 37 28 at Wineglass. So now we're just here to see what we can do and really to celebrate the journey.

To, my kids won't be there and my husband and I are going alone. Seven kids is too many to take with

Chris Detzel: us.

Angela Awald: I

Chris Detzel: think that's great. You get the alone time.

Angela Awald: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, we're looking forward to it. They've all been supported. My adult kids, watch the youngers while I can go for a run sometimes, so it's been the family journey, worth, all of it. For sure.

Chris Detzel: I think that's awesome and congratulations. And so do you, now, are you running with, do you run with the community? You said you run with some other moms and things like that. Is that just

Just here and there, or do you do most of your moms by yourself?

Angela Awald: That's pretty informal. We, the group of us get together consistently Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I did hire a coach after wine glass last year, so I started with her in November because I felt like I was about to hit a plateau. Like I just had a hunch that if I didn't change things up, then I would just stay where I was.

And I'm keep asking that [00:07:00] question, what if I invested a little bit more? What if I had this and. It's

Chris Detzel: off.

Angela Awald: It has paid off. I haven't missed a run in since November. And the fitness is there. So

Chris Detzel: I think that a lot of times, look, I think getting a coach is obviously a smart choice, but it also keeps you accountable for

To keep them all. 'cause you don't wanna let your coach down, coach puts plan together. You're paying for it. There's a lot of things there that, I think keeps you focused and I like that.

Angela Awald: Yeah. And for me, I think it was also like the first time that I had.

I had recognized or allowed myself to feel like I was. I was worth investing this in. We invest in our kids' activities over and over, we drive them all over the place. I've got a competitive cyclist, an advanced ballerina, like all of these things and we invest in them constantly.

And I wanted them to see that, when their parents, if they choose to be, that they can invest in themselves too.

Chris Detzel: I think it's, I love that lesson 'cause I think it's super important. You have to invest in yourself to be the best you anyways,

Angela Awald: yes, absolutely.

Chris Detzel: And I think that's [00:08:00] very important.

So as you go now to Boston, just in less than a couple of weeks now, what are you looking forward to the most? What are you getting there? Do you have any plans to go to the shakeout, run to a shakeout run? There's many there. I don't know. What are you thinking? What y'all plans would love to know.

Angela Awald: Yeah. We are fortunate to be able to get there the Friday before the race. And we're staying all the way till Tuesday, which is great. And very supportive parents. So they'll be here with the crew. So yeah, hope to get in a shakeout run. Just enjoy the atmosphere, but truly just celebrate. I, my goal, I told my coach when I hired her my, my time goal is I'm want that for wine glass for this one.

I wanted to be in good enough shape that I could run the times that I've been running, but not feel like I was gonna die.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, not

Angela Awald: that.

Chris Detzel: It's

Angela Awald: good to build the fitness and to really enjoy all of it, because I don't dunno when I'll get back.

Chris Detzel: Yep.

Angela Awald: I've qualified again for next year, especially since I'll be able to,

Chris Detzel: that's when you'll be

back,

Angela Awald: go in as [00:09:00] a 50-year-old, who knows what next year will be.

Chris Detzel: Who knows.

Angela Awald: So yeah, I just wanna celebrate and be, be with other runners who hopefully are there to celebrate too.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. Something I would, and I've said this to a couple people already, I would recommend, so when you go and get your bib and stuff, you what I would say is you'll go outside the expo's, fine, go see it.

But it's not all that spectacular from. An expo standpoint, but what is spectacular are all the popup shops that have come outside of the expo. So you'll see almost every vendor have their own kind of popup, whether it's Nike or Reba, I don't know. Okay. All of those places. So that's, you wanna go outside of the expo?

Certainly look, but. Don't spend all your time in there, because there's a lot more fun things outside of, just right, outside of the expo into these different streets. Just as an FY it's gonna be, it's just fun to see. Maybe Saturday you do some of that, Sunday obviously you wanna rest or Yeah.

Rest a little bit.

But yeah. Anything else that, stands out and that you're, that you can't [00:10:00] wait to do or you just kinda,

Angela Awald: I am a bit overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all and, it's been quite a hectic couple of months, family-wise. So I haven't even had a chance to like process everything and what's, I've been, I have the jacket, I'm waiting to wear it that's sweet.

Chris Detzel: You

Angela Awald: know, may maybe that moment

Chris Detzel: wears it. Yeah.

Angela Awald: Yeah, I'm just looking forward to the whole experience, really soaking it up. If there's anything I've learned on the, on this whole journey over the past, what 12 years, 11 years of running is that it's about the experience.

It's about showing up and being consistent and enjoying every step. Because when I had to stop running during my pregnancy, I promised myself I would never take another run for granted, and I have not. I have not taken a single one for granted because you never know when a kid's gonna get sick or you know something is gonna come up.

So I won't. That's amazing, Austin, for granted.

Chris Detzel: I love that. That's a good closing. Anything else that we missed that we didn't talk about? I know these were quick hits, so probably a lot. I

Angela Awald: [00:11:00] don't think so, unless there's anything else you wanna hear.

Chris Detzel: No, I think that it's good. You'll learn a lot if you listen to these quick hits from

Some others that have been here, been doing it for 13 years, 16 years, et cetera.

Some of our first timers and things, go on, listen, in only 15 minutes the most. Angela, this has been really great. Really appreciate you coming on and spending a little bit of time with us and for everybody else, thank you so much for tuning in to another DFW Running Talk.

Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter at dfw running talk sub.com. Until next time, Angela, thanks again.

Angela Awald: Thank you. Yep.