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| SportsMonday, October 8, 2007 11:17 PM CDT |
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Ellsworth runner on nationally ranked pace
How would you spend it if you knew you had a good chance to live a long time? Debbie Lowell chose distance running. “I’ll probably live forever so I might as well be healthy,” quipped the mother of two, whose father is 92 and mother almost 90. Lowell’s hobby has taken her beyond good health, though. The 47-year-old State Farm employee from rural Ellsworth ranks sixth nationally in the mile this year in the 45-49 age group with a time of 5 minutes, 59.7 seconds. She also ranks 13th at 800 meters (2:45.20) and 16th in the 1,500 (5:49.68). She was the overall women’s winner in the Lexington 5K road race in June in a season best of 21:21. Her career best is 20:51. Such marks are especially remarkable considering she didn’t run seriously between her graduation from Heyworth High School in 1977 and 2000. The former prep quarter-miler and half-miler only returned to running when her daughter needed a training partner to prepare for middle school cross country. In one of her first 5Ks, Lowell placed second in her age group and she’s been taking home trophies ever since. Her success was no accident, according to her husband and coach, Keith. “I think genetically she’s a distance runner,” he said, noting her ultra-low resting heart rate of 35 beats per minute and slender 5-foot-9 frame. “All those things play into her being able to do what she can do.” What she did last May was place second in her age group in the Soldier Field 10-Miler at Chicago, averaging 7:24 per mile for a 1:13:54. After that race she switched her training focus to the 800 for two months and developed a stress fracture in her left shin. “It was frustrating, but I was able to bike and use the elliptical trainer,” said Lowell, who ended a four-week layoff from running last week. She hopes to race again in the Nov. 11 Jingle Bell 5K in Bloomington — if not sooner. “She has that attitude of always wanting to get better,” her husband said. “She’s one of the best competitors I’ve ever seen.” This is the first year she has had her husband as her full-time coach because he used to help coach track at Tri-Valley High School, where their children developed into Division I athletes. Their son, Brandon, was a track star who went on to compete for Illinois State, while their daughter, Tara, plays volleyball at Western Michigan. Keith Lowell designs workouts that emphasize quality over quantity, limiting his spouse of 27 years to no more than 35 miles of training in a week with a long run of no more than 12 miles. “We mix it up with some tempo runs,” said Keith, who met his wife at Eastern Illinois University. “We do speed work every other week. “You’re walking that fine line between trying to get her to that next level and not breaking her down.” The Lowells’ coach-athlete relationship has produced some positive side effects. “I’ve been able to spend more time with her,” Keith said. “Instead of focusing on us, we’ve been focusing on our kids and other people’s kids. This gives us a chance to hang out together and go places.” The Lowells take a long-range approach to running. “She wants to run for the rest of her life, so she doesn’t do marathons,” Keith said. Debbie has raced well enough at shorter distances to become sponsored by Often Running in Normal and adidas, who pay many of her race entry fees and provide running apparel. “I want to run well for them and show off their names,” Debbie said. Mitch Hobbs of Often Running said Lowell’s best asset is her “drive.” “She is biomechanically very good,” he added. Plus running well never gets old. “It makes me feel good,” she said. “I like the competition. I like beating younger ones.” Who is Debbie? Age: 47 Resides: Rural Ellsworth Husband: Keith Employer: State Farm Insurance Cos. 5K personal best: 20:51 What is your game? “Our Games” runs Mondays in the Pantagraph. Its stories will focus on the games that we play and on those who play them. If you have a story idea, contact the sports department at sports@pantagraph. com or (309) 829-9000. Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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