By Craig Moorhead
Special to The Argus
From someone who didn’t pursue sports in school, Caledonia resident Linda Esch has transformed herself into one tough competitor.
Esch originally found that she loved power walking. Before she started running in 2000, she was walking between five and 15 miles a day. That year her brother Matt talked her into entering her first competitive run, the 3.1 mile Chileda Classic in La Crosse.
“When I got there I was so intimidated by all the runners,” Linda says, “but I did it. I came in 26th overall, fifth in my age group.” Not bad when you consider that even nine years ago, the race drew hundreds of runners.
“From there it just kind of snowballed,” Esch says. “I’ve been overall winner in a couple races, the Trempealeau, Pickwick, and one of the fall Winona runs. I’ve come in second in a lot of my runs.”
“The following year (2001) I trained for the half marathon in La Crosse,” Esch said. It was her first attempt at long distance running. She covered the 13.1 mile course in 133 minutes, 31 seconds. “I came in second overall in that run,” she says with a grin.
It’s a family activity. Linda competes in some runs with Matt and sister Tina, who Linda says was a very good athlete in high school. “My brother Matt did the half marathon and his goal is to beat me someday,” Linda says with a chuckle, “He’s younger than me but he hasn’t done it yet… I won’t let him. It’s kind of a little game we have.
“Now I have a niece and a nephew that are following in my footsteps in running,” Linda said. “Hunter, who’s seven, and Addie, who’s three. We do the Winona Waddle and the Goodview Gallop as a family. She did her first run at the beginning of October… and I run with Hunter.”
“You’ve always got to challenge yourself,” Linda noted. “You won’t feel like running every day, but then you remember… if you want to do good you’ve got to do the work that goes along with it…”
What does it take to succeed?
“It’s all mental. I think it’s 80 percent mental, 20 percent body.”
What’s it like to finish a half marathon?
“It’s a high. I always run against the clock. This last one, the Maple Leaf, that I just finished in September, my time was 137 and I was very disappointed. Even though I finished third in my age group, 13th overall… I always still beat myself up.”
What’s next?
“I’m going to try to do the La Crosse Fitness full marathon this coming spring.”
That’s a distance of 26.2 miles. Linda said that she’s been doing longer runs in preparation.
“I have ran from Caledonia to Mabel,” she reported, “which is 19 miles. I’ve done that in two and a half hours… but I would want to go into doing a full marathon knowing that I would have a good clock time. Not just to finish… a lot of people do it just to finish, and that’s okay, but I’m more ‘blood and guts’.
What would you consider a good clock time?
“I’m guessing it would have to be about 3:15. That‘s my goal.”
How has running changed over the last decade?
“I think there’s more people running today than there was 10 years ago. I see a lot more people running than I did. The races are getting bigger. They (runners) come in all shapes and sizes…”
Running, Esch says, “Makes you feel physically good, fit. It makes you feel young. My aunt’s brother-in-law who is 75, still runs. He looks like he’s maybe 60. His name is Donnie Miller. He did the half marathon in about 2:12, and I’m, like, ‘how old are you?’ You try to inspire other people to run. I just hope my niece and nephew keep at it.”
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