PARKERSBURG — Kathy Ervin throught ‘‘it was hot out there today,’’ but the heat didn’t stop the Quaker City, Ohio, resident from leading wire-to-wire Saturday morning to capture her third News and Sentinel Half Marathon women’s race-walk event in the last four years.
‘‘It was my slowest time (2:23.45), I can tell you that, but it was as hot as it’s ever been since I’ve been here,’’ said Ervin. ‘‘My training wasn’t very good this summer either, because I’m working full-time again’’ as a nursing assistant in Barnesvile, Ohio. ‘‘Eight miles is as long as I got (to train this year).’’
‘‘I was like sweating before I even started today, but I felt pretty good,’’ said Ervin. ‘‘I felt like I could maintain a pace. I didn’t go out real fast. My goal was to try to win it.’’
And that she certainly did — by a margin of a minute, 28 seconds over runner-up Carie Gump, 35, of Wheeling, with a time of 2:25.13. Anda Coiner, 35, of Marietta came in third with a 2:25.29 clocking.
Ervin, 43, has been race-walking ‘‘for probably 14 years’’ now. ‘‘I was a runner, but I quit running. I don’t run hardly at all any more because I want to save my joints.’’
With a background in physiology, Ervin knows that ‘‘running is real hard on the body, so it’s good to cross-train.’’
Even though Ervin has competed in the race-walk here the last four years, ‘‘I don’t know this course like I know the Wheeing course. because I don’t train on it like I used to on the Wheeling course when I lived there.
‘‘So here, I look for the miles and just keep counting ’em down until I get to the finish. I like to count backward, and say like ‘I have seven miles, so I have over 70 minutes to go.’ ’’
Ervin lives on a farm with ‘‘rolling hills, and our driveway’s two-tenths of a mile, but I kind of make a cloverleaf from the barn around the front of the house. I have a loop that’s about five minutes long. I have two young sons at home, so don’t get out a lot by myself to train. So I can do that in my yard while they’re at home, and my one son even runs a liitle bit with me sometimes.’’
Saturday was only the fourth race-walk Ervin has entered this year. ‘‘I can’t do a lot of them with my kids,’’ she said. Her next time out will probably be in a 5K the first week of October.
‘‘But I like the bigger races like here, where it’s more competitive,’’ said Ervin. ‘‘It gives me a goal in life when every time you sign up for a race; it keeps me going.’’
Article Photos
Photo by Jeff Baughan
Kathy Ervin captures her third News and Sentinel Half Marathon women’s race-walk title in the last four years.