Her legs shaking like a baby deer’s, Rebecca Fairley was born into the family of marathoners on Sunday.
After 26.2 miles of labor, she beamed while crossing the finish line at the Vancouver USA Marathon.
A minute later and still smiling, she was in a wheelchair en route to the medical tent in Esther Short Park. The shaking of her legs couldn’t dislodge the glee of being the first in her family to have finished a marathon.
“VIP treatment,” the 23-year-old from Tacoma joked after doctors let her leave. “It was really rough, but good. I started seeing stars about Mile 14.”
Fairley was among 2,478 runners who finished the fourth annual Vancouver USA Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday. That’s 519 more than last year and the largest turnout yet for an event that has found its footing among Northwest races.
Many of those stiff, ginger gaits seen around downtown will soon be waddling in cities across the Northwest. Like Fairley, roughly half of the participants live outside of the Vancouver-Portland area.
Among them is Jeff Yamada. The Yakima resident wore a singlet signifying his membership in Marathon Maniacs, a club that requires two marathons within 16 days or three within 90 days for its lowest level of membership.
Yamada, 54, completed his 32nd marathon Sunday. He has run a marathon every two weeks for the past three months.
It’s hard to believe Yamada’s first marathon was in 2011. His transformation from a sedentary 200-pounder to a svelte 135-pound endurance machine began with a “Biggest Loser” weight loss competition at his workplace, Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.
“I couldn’t even run a mile on a treadmill,” Yamada said. “As I got into it more, I started gaining miles and watching what I ate. It came pretty naturally.”
Both Yamada and Fairley said the Vancouver USA Marathon was worth traveling for.
“I wanted something flat,” Fairley said. “My running partner ran here last year. … It was total word-of-mouth.”
Yamada, on the other hand, knows all the established marathons around the region. He chose to run Vancouver for the second consecutive year.
“I love this course, especially going by the fort,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of the big guys. I’ve done Boston, Honolulu. I like the smaller races with about 1,000 or so runners. It’s more personable.”
The race has grown each year and received national attention as one of Runner’s World’s Top 10 Fun Feature Filled Marathons. The only complaint heard Sunday was from runners forced to wait at the railroad crossing at Mile 21 near Wintler Park.
It’s a race that has lured Beaverton, Ore., resident Jason Rogers each of the past four years.
“The field seems to be getting deeper with faster runners,” he said. “Each year it gets better. It’s a great local race.”
