deb roush

Jen running in high school. She was fast back then, too. And pretty.

My sister, Jennifer, four years my junior, will run the Boston Marathon on Monday. And she’s going to win.

That’s because, like so many others, she has set a personal, crazy-hard goal and is ready and excited to run this race. That she has qualified for Boston – no easy task even for the best of runners – then trained to the point of it being grueling, makes her victorious before she steps foot at the starting line. Jen qualified for the “marathon of all marathons” after tackling her first-ever marathon, and is setting aside any fear about last year’s bombing to run alongside, and probably in front of, the best of the best. She’s fast! And I’m proud of her for many reasons, but chief among them is because it is one of the few times recently I can truly remember Jen putting herself first. Marathon training at her level takes time. Lots and lots of time. She is a crazy busy, stay-at-home mom and a respected artist who makes gorgeous jewelry she sells in boutiques from Charlotte to Key West. With a master’s degree from Clemson University in aquatic toxicology, she’s brilliant, and set aside her “formal” career and now juggles attending Bible study with preparing amazing nightly dinners for her family, carting around two young kids, jumping in to help a friend, supporting her husband and answering her sister’s calls for help or advice almost daily. OK, daily.

Growing up, as her one and only mean older sister, I admit to teasing Jen about having slightly bowed legs. It’s nothing you really notice, but when you have a sister who is gorgeous, smarter than you and frankly, a lot nicer, you have got to find something. In fact, because of her bowed legs, she was advised by some physician or other, and I think believed for a long time, “You will never be a distance runner.” Well they sure didn’t get that diagnosis right. Jen has to do extra stretching and tend to her Iliotibial (IT) band (runners will understand), but she’s put in the extra time to do that. She has combined speed work with hill training and long, long, long runs, and is now set for Monday. When I visited her recently at her home in North Carolina, I secretly watched her on the treadmill one rainy day. She was running one-mile speed repeats. Sweat soaking her T-shirt, she turned leg over leg at an amazing pace. She raced mile after mile while I stood behind her in admiration.

Everyone running Boston will have his or her own story. And I’m going to be proud of all of them, because after last year’s bombing, it’s not only going to be an accomplishment to have qualified and trained, but it also will be undeniably a little scary to just be there, no matter what they say about safety and security. But all of the runners, from the elite to the back-of-the-pack, will symbolize that they are tucking their worries away and putting personal aspirations first. I’ll be watching, and I’m hoping the first female to cross the finish line will be Bostonian Shalene Flanagan. But no matter where Jennifer Anne Walters, #20177, places, she will be the true winner in my heart. She’s in the third heat starting at 11 a.m. She’ll be the gorgeous blonde with the bowed legs. My champion.