Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

A: I have very little free time, but I like to go running. That’s my stress reliever, and I like to go to the movies and hang out with my family.

Q: I’ve heard that you like to run marathons, so what got you into doing that?

A: When I was in high school for tennis, we used to have to run a lot for conditioning. In college for my sport, we also ran an incredibly large amount. Once I was out of college, I found running to be, I know it sounds crazy, but I found it to be relaxing. I could just zone out when I run, so it was nice for me. Some of my friends that I graduated from college with also run, so we compete in races together. We run marathons and they’re like our reunions together.

Q:What do you do to train for marathons?

A: This weekend I’m actually doing a half marathon. I do both half marathons and full marathons. A half marathon is 13.1 miles, so it should take about two hours or less for most people, and a full marathon is 26.2 miles, so it is a lot longer. It takes anywhere from four to four and a half hours depending on your speed of racing. So for full marathons you start at about four months in advance for training. You run so many days a week, and you would do instead of running maybe some elliptical, biking to give your legs a rest. You also do some weight training and ab training. So in a week, I would say, you work out six out of the seven days.

Q: How do you balance your duties as a teacher along with training for marathons?

During the weekdays I usually have to do my workouts in two parts, so when the [students] are eating lunch, I go and run for 30 minutes which is about three miles. After school, I’ll finish my workouts with my tennis girls or after their practice. On the weekends is usually when long distances are put in.

Q: Why do you enjoy running?

A: It is a cheap, actually free, way of being stress-free, and it gets me outside.

Q: Do you have any other hobbies that you enjoy doing?

A: Besides running, I also do bicycling and my husband and I go hunting. We go hiking a lot. In the summertime, I go kayaking. So I’m a big outdoors person.

Q: Why do you enjoy these hobbies?

A: Like I said, it gets me outdoors. Part of teaching is just sitting and putting grades in, so it gets me up and moving around and be active. It gives me a chance to hang out with my husband.