Oct 11, 2006 5:26 pm US/Mountain
Women At Transition Center Prepare For Marathon
by Suzanne McCarroll
DENVER (CBS4) ―
Among the runners at this weekend's Denver Marathon will be a group of women who have faced overwhelming odds in their lives and have learned new lessons through running.
Sally is one of the women whose raising two sons by herself after divorcing a man she said abused her and moved on from a family she calls "dysfunctional."
Sally lives at Warren Village. Through the transitional housing program she's working part time and takes classes online to become a special education teacher. When she's not running after her sons Jazz, 4, and Jason, 2, Sally is running toward a new life.
"I actually hated running," Sally said as she laughed.
What she once hated she now loves. Sally started running with Coach Mari Marsico and other women from Warren Village to train for the Denver Marathon.
"We ran my first 20 miles three weeks ago," Sally said. "I was like 'I can do this, I can totally do this.'"
Marsico started the group because she saw an opportunity to heal through running.
"Whenever you're training for a marathon, you spend an enormous amount of time with yourself and you get to really think about where your life is focusing and where you're going," Marsico said.
Over the course of 7 months the group of women has turned into distance runners.
"It is so exciting and it is so compelling that they are finding this new energy, a new self, looking better, feeling better and tapping into new strength," said Sue Mohrman with Warren Village.
Sally says running has made her a better mother.
"I don't have a husband, I don't have my family to say 'you know this was a crappy day,'" Sally said. "I can get out here and run six miles and talk about it in my head and say 'look this was bad but that's okay, you're still a good person, you're still a good person.'"
In the upcoming marathon, Sally has planned out her last few miles. One she'll run for Jazz, another for Jason, but the last couple will be just for herself.
"For everything I've ever gone through in my life and for everything I'm going to go through in the future, those last two miles are going to be for me," Sally said. "And I know I can make it and I will do it."
Warren Village is one of 10 charities that will benefit from the Denver Marathon on Sunday. Runners can register to raise money for any of the charities.
The inaugural Denver Marathon is expected to be Colorado's largest with 5,000 runners registered.
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