As runners we cherish exploring beautiful trails, running with friends and testing our limits. When we decide to become parents, part of us becomes afraid that we will lose not only our identity as a runner but also our freedom, dreams and goals. In this month’s coaching article, I relay my experience how I overcame diversity to rekindle my running passion and spirit.
Running Mama: An interview with Nicole Hunt
By Jessie Thomas
Nighttime and early morning wake ups, playdates, consoling big emotions, virus swapping, meals to make, lunches to pack, diapers, driving young people hither and yon, homework to help with, piles of laundry, teeth to brush, and late nights prepping so the next day doesn’t eat your lunch before it even starts. This is just a small list of the responsibilities parents are subject to on a daily basis. It’s enough to derail the training and racing aspirations of even the most disciplined human. Dear parents, take heart. Nicole Hunt, mother and homeschooler to 3 boys (6 yr old Eon and 3 yr old twins, Roam and Ember) answers a few questions about training, racing, coaching, and living the life you want as a parent and competitor. Nicole is a wealth of information on and off the trails. 1. What was your training and racing before children. Before children, my goal was to try to qualify for another mountain running team. I trained about 60 to 70 mpw with 3 hard workouts per week. I did drills, circuit training, mountain biking up hills hard, xc skiing for the sole purpose of becoming a faster runner. I trained outside nearly every workout and I ran in the mountains just about every weekend when weather permitted. I traveled and competed all over world including Russia, Siberia, Czech Republic, Austria, Nigeria, Turkey, Slovenia, China and South Korea. I felt I was in the best shape of my life at age 36 and even set a few road PR’s at that age, 1 year before becoming pregnant.
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Montana Trail Crew
