Running on Effort - March '04 -
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Published on: 5/31/2004
Last Visited: 5/31/2004
Exhausted after completing an 8 miler one chilly day in January 2003, Jenny Spangler doubted she'd ever get in shape to run another marathon.Throw thoughts of fast times and long-standing Olympic dreams out the window-the mere prospect of hanging on for 26.2 miles was absolutely daunting.Nearing 40, shouldering a lengthy history of injury, and with daughter Kelli just a year old, Spangler simply wanted to regain her fitness and enjoy running again.
But a scant eight months later, on October 12, 2003, the slight Illinois native sped to a 2:32:39 finish at the Chicago Marathon, good for 13th overall, third place among American women, and a new U.S. masters record.Now Spangler is poised to run another Olympic Trials Marathon, where she has shown, anything can happen.
At Columbia, SC, in February of 1996, Spangler shocked nearly everyone with a convincing Trials victory.But since then she's been out of the picture, and Chicago was her first marathon in a long seven years.Taking into account all the ups and downs of Jenny Spangler's running career, the Chicago result was practically unbelievable … and yet almost expected.
A Star is Born
Raised in Rockford, IL, Spangler began running in ninth grade after being cut from the Guilford High School basketball team.Wanting to participate in a sport and having excelled in Presidential Physical Fitness tests (particularly the 600-yard run), she followed the track coach's suggestion and joined his team."He put me in the 800 first, but the longer the distance, the better I did," Spangler recalls."And since no one else wanted to run the two-mile, I moved up."This proved a wise decision, as during her senior year Spangler finished second in the state in cross country and fifth at 3,200m.She received modest attention from recruiters and chose the University of Iowa, which had up-and-coming distance programs and enabled her to pursue an interest in physical therapy.
Iowa was a good fit for Spangler, and she improved steadily her first two years.Highlights included a team Big Ten cross country title in 1982 (her sophomore year), a seventh place individual finish over 10,000m at the 1983 NCAA Championships (which earned her All-American honors) and an Academic All-Big Ten award in 1985.
But the outstanding achievement of Spangler's collegiate career came in June of 1983, when at age 19 she scorched the Grandma's Marathon course in Duluth, MN, and set a still-standing U.S.Junior record of 2:33:52.
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Now a national-caliber masters marathoner set to run the 2004 Trials, Flynn has recognized Spangler's unusually strong commitment to running.
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"Jenny was really focused and tenacious about her training and goals," says Flynn.
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The 1984 Olympic Trials Marathon proved to be the first in a long string of disappointments for Spangler.A broken foot suffered midway through the race, when she was running strongly among the top five, prevented a finish anywhere near her potential, although she toughed it out to place 33rd in 2:40:18.Spangler's final years at Iowa included some strong performances, but other injuries popped up and she never ran as fast on the track as she had prior to Grandma's.
After graduating in 1986, Spangler's misfortunes continued."I was a good but not great athlete just trying to get a professional career going after college," she recalls, "and I really struggled."A failed marriage and several injuries hampered her preparations for the 1988 Trials, which she completed in 2:44:59 to place a disheartening 49th.Although only five years had passed, her stunning 2:33 marathon debut seemed ages ago; Spangler was burned out and called it quits."I was just really tired of all the training at that time," she admits.
Despite getting away from serious training and competition, Spangler kept running, especially enjoying long runs at Oak Mountain State Park near Birmingham, AL, where she lived for several years while pursuing an MBA."Those runs were my favorite part of the week," she remembers.Finally, while back in Illinois watching the 1992 Olympic Trials on television, Spangler realized how much she missed competing.She eventually came under the guidance of 1968 Puerto Rican Olympian Willie Rios, and, despite a stress fracture suffered in 1995, got herself in the best shape of her life through a diet of high mileage and long time-trials.Spangler also met her future husband, Miki Tosic, in the early 1990s and helped him train for his first marathon.
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During the harsh Midwestern winter of 1996, Spangler temporarily relocated to California and trained under Santa Monica Track Club coach Joe Douglas, a friend of Rios's.
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Although untested and a tad short on confidence, Spangler knew her conditioning was sound, and she surprised everyone with an Olympic Trials victory in a PR of 2:29:54.
After her dominating run in Columbia, Spangler was too excited to recover properly, and it cost her dearly."The coaches and Jenny and I got all wound up," explains Tosic, "and she was back to 100-plus mile weeks very quickly.
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Spangler was forced to drop out of the Olympic Marathon with an Achilles tendon injury, still perhaps the greatest disappointment of her athletic career.
Between 1996 and 2000, Spangler's misfortunes continued, and a broken tailbone in 1999 proved the last straw.Finally resigned to letting herself heal fully, she again retired from competitive running.Spangler ran lightly during 2000 and through much of her pregnancy in 2001 before giving birth to daughter Kelli that December."The pregnancy and the year after really got me healthy again," she says."I started running with Kelli in a baby jogger and even ran a few races pushing her; It was very low-key."As 2002 came to an end, Spangler and Tosic began wondering about the 2004 Olympic Trials.
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Although now living in Lake Villa near the Illinois-Wisconsin line, Spangler and Tosic are fixtures in the Chicago-area running community.
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Spangler presently serves as president of the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Running Club and has coached high school and adult runners of all abilities.This past year she was a regular at Tuesday-evening track sessions guided by former University of Illinois standout and 4-minute miler Greg Domantay.Club teammate Kevin Koy, a fine area masters athlete, notes that the track workouts are especially spirited when Spangler is on hand.
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"Jenny attacks every single repeat," Koy says, "and if ever we're feeling lazy she'll keep us honest."
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October 12, 2003, dawned a brilliant fall day in Chicago and Spangler could barely contain her excitement to be standing on a marathon starting line after so long.Following a quick 5:34 opening mile, she settled down to a mid-5:40s pace and maintained it with absolute consistency for 20 miles.Some might say she was on automatic pilot, but her term is "running on effort."
"From about a month out," she says, "everybody was asking ‘What pace are you going to run?' and ‘Are you doing your pace work?' and I started to get really unsettled.I thought I could run 2:40 (the Olympic Trials "A" standard), but I honestly did not know.So I decided to throw pace out the window.My whole thing going into it was just effort."Obviously Spangler has an uncanny ability to monitor her body and how it is functioning, because her pacing was flawless.The temperature and wind picked up gradually, resulting in dehydration for some runners, but Spangler breezed along.
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The American record and a hefty chunk of prize money were nice fringe benefits, but Spangler valued the race itself far more."The last several years have been such a struggle, wondering whether I'd ever be able to get back into it," she says.
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"Of course a lot of it was just Jenny and the talent she has-she dug up something special on October 12.But it was also the way we prepared, which was so rewarding because it was really just us two for the first time."
After nearly a month spent recovering from Chicago and also moving into a new home, Spangler returned to serious training in mid-November.
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So what will Jenny Spangler do in St. Louis on April 3?When fit, she is one of the most consistent marathoners around, and the hilly Forest Park course suits her strengths."Jenny's pattern has been to run a great marathon about every 10 years, so Chicago might have been it for a while," jokes Tosic.
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