The Marine Corps Marathon will be the third marathon that a Maryland teen has run with her mother.<\/b>
\nThe 50th Marine Corps Marathon is less than a month away, and WTOP is highlighting some of the inspiring people who are running to that start line.
While many ninth-grade students are getting into the swing of things for their new school year, one Maryland teenager is preparing with her mother for the 26.2-mile race.
\u201cI just have always loved running, and I really like running with my mom, and it\u2019s just really special to me,\u201d said Adriana Vastag, a ninth grader from Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
The Marine Corps Marathon will be the third marathon Adriana has run with her mother, Virginia.
The pair, like many others, picked up long-distance running to fight boredom during the pandemic.
\u201cWhen COVID came and we couldn\u2019t do so much else, we started doing a lot more running together,\u201d Virginia told WTOP. \u201cShe did her first half marathon when she was 10. And we just loved racing ever since.\u201d
One day last year they were at their local library and were inspired to look for marathons that would allow a 13-year-old to enter. On an impulse, they signed up for the Virginia Marathon with just one month to prepare.
After they conquered that race, they signed up for a marathon in Delaware just two weeks later. For their hat trick, they have turned to the \u201cPeople\u2019s Marathon.\u201d
\u201cWe were trying to think of a marathon that might have some more meaning,\u201d Virginia said. \u201cWe have grandfathers, great grandfathers who served in World War I and World War II, and so we thought the Marine Corps would be a really good one that we could run and dedicate to them.\u201d
Virginia said both grandfathers served in the Pacific Theater, one seeing action in Papua New Guinea and the other serving in the Army Air Corps.
\u201cHearing their stories and the sacrifices that they made for us, it just seemed like \u2026 doing this run, we could honor our grandfathers who fought so that we could have the freedoms and the ability to do all that we do,\u201d Virginia said.
WTOP spoke with Virginia and Adriana after they had just completed a 15-mile training run. They said most of the time they are training together and sometimes they even have Adriana\u2019s younger sister come out with them for shorter runs. Running has certainly become a family affair.
\u201cIt\u2019s really fun,\u201d Adriana said. \u201cWe just kind of talk about our day and stuff like that, what we\u2019re looking forward to.\u201d
Unlike many marathon runners, they complete the race and their training runs sans headphones and music, choosing instead to talk to each other and enjoy the atmosphere of the race.
Though occasionally they would throw on the \u201cFrozen\u201d soundtrack when Adriana was younger.
Virginia said it can be tiring to run with her 14-year-old daughter, who she described as the \u201cenergizer bunny.\u201d
\u201cShe\u2019s much, much faster than me,\u201d Virginia said. \u201cShe\u2019s always telling me, \u2018Come on, come on.\u2019 So, dragging me through things.\u201d
As they both were running the Delaware Marathon, Virginia was finding it difficult to keep up with her energetic daughter. Then she received wise words from a passing cyclist.
\u201cI\u2019ll never forget it, because he was just telling me, \u2018You\u2019re so blessed. You\u2019re so blessed to feel this pain, to be able to do this with her’,\u201d Virginia recalled.
Those words have stuck with her.
\u201cIt is such a blessing to be able to have the opportunity to have all this time together,\u201d Virginia said. \u201cWe\u2019ve run thousands of miles, thousands of hours\u2019 worth of conversations and everything else that we\u2019ve been able to have through this.\u201d
Adriana is hoping to run a sub four-hour marathon on the streets of D.C. and Arlington.
Virginia said they initially started with just a daily walk.
\u201cThen turned into running and just built up,\u201d Virginia said. \u201cI never would have imagined having run marathons and stuff like that. So hopefully it can inspire others to do the same.\u201d
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