Marathon running a way for Mays to push herself to greater heights

By Mike Szvetitz
Sports Editor, Opelika-Auburn News
Published: April 12, 2008

Heather May just wanted to see if she could do it.

That’s just her personality, you know. The 38-year-old is all about finding where her limits lie, then leaning on them until they have no choice but to get out of the way.

It’s why she started running in the first place. It’s why she’s done a lot of things, actually.

“I’m the type of person who wants to know how far I can go,” May said.

And what better way to get there than by running?

And it’s the running — the marathons, in particular — that have been the most challenging, eye-opening endeavor the Auburn University assistant professor of theatre has undertaken. Other than her PhD in Theatre History, Criticism and Literature from Indiana University, that is.

But even through the struggles of writing her dissertation on Francis Leon — a female impersonator on the 19th century American minstrel stage — the running helped.

“A lot,” she smiled.

And now it’s got her into the Olympic Trials for the women’s marathon, which takes place next Sunday at the Boston Marathon. It’ll be May’s second attempt to qualify for the Summer Games, as she finished 42nd overall in the 2004 Trials in St. Louis with a time of 2:46.37.

May is the only runner from Alabama who has qualified for this year’s Olympic Trials.

And while May knows to actually make the team, she’d need to run almost 9 minutes faster than she’s ever gone in her 10 years of running 26.2 miles, the opportunity to run in the world famous Boston Marathon as one of the top distance runners in the country is special.

“There’s no real possibility that I will (qualify for the Olympics),” said May, who noted that to make the team, you have to finish in the top three and have run a time of 2 hours and 37 minutes in a sanctioned event. May’s best is a 2:45.52, which she ran last year.

“But it’s a great opportunity,” said May, who finished 19th in the Boston Marathon in 2003. “My goal is to place as high as I can and run a (personal best). My goal is to go under 2:45.
“I’m excited about it. I’ve trained harder than I ever have. I’ve got a lot more experience and I know what I’m doing.”

And it all started on a whim. Ten years ago, May was working in St. Louis at an office building with a gym. 

Like the curious actor she was, May got on the treadmill.

“I wanted to see if I could run a mile,” she said.

Even though it was slow, she made it.

“I think it was something like 8 or 9 minutes,” May said, laughing.

But that first 5,280 feet in 1998 was enough to hook the graduate student. And every time she got on that treadmill, she’d push herself farther.

Eventually, the treadmill turned into a track, the track into a park, the park into the Indianapolis Marathon a year later, where May ran her first marathon in 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Three years later, May was under the 3-hour mark. And loving every second — every step — of it.

“I got hooked,” said May, who has now run seven career sub-3-hour marathons and was named the Indiana USATF Female Distance Runner of the Year in 2004. “I don’t think I ever got the runner’s high from it. I just liked pushing myself to see how much faster I could get. I look forward to running. I love it.”

“There’s something wonderful in knowing you can measure your progress and success. You can go out and run ‘X’ number of miles and know if you ran it faster or slower than the time before. There’s a reward in that – seeing your time go down and knowing you’ve bettered yourself.”

And that competition against herself — her limits — is what drives May.

“Measurable goals,” she says.

One foot at a time.

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