MURFREESBORO — MTSU
accounting professor Paula Thomas was among the hundreds of runners who
competed in the recent Middle Half, but it was completion of a half-marathon
last month in Chicago that gives her the greatest satisfaction.
Finishing the Chicago Half-Marathon meant she could strike
off an ambitious goal from her bucket list — running a 13.1-mile half-marathon —
in all 50 states!
“I still really can’t believe it happened,” said the
57-year-old Murfreesboro resident, an avid runner since her 20s. “I’m an
accountant and a planner, and it was such a big plan … and to think that it all
fell into place, I’m still kind of comprehending.”
What made the accomplishment even sweeter was having the
support of friends and family in Chicago who formed “Team Paula.” Six other
runners joined her, including two of her three children, while seven other
supporters waited at the finish line to cheer them on.
“It was amazing to have that much support,” Thomas said.
Her oldest daughter, Kate, son Ben and sister and MTSU
alumna Carol Womack ran with the group. Youngest daughter, Abby, wasn’t able to
run, but designed the T-shirts emblazoned with “Team Paula” on the back, while
the front denoted that Chicago was the last stop on the 50-state quest. And Abby
made sure the race announcer knew “Team Paula” had a purpose.
“They made quite a big deal about all of us crossing that
finish line. It was really special,” said Thomas, who is married to MTSU management
professor Earl Thomas, also avid supporter who was in Chicago to help celebrate
his wife’s accomplishment.
“I’m just proud of her tenacious determination to accomplish
the goals she sets for herself,” Earl Thomas said, adding that the challenge
was conquered about three years ahead of schedule.
“She’s got that tenacious personality and is going to
accomplish anything she sets her mind on.”
His wife, who’s run about 75 half-marathons total, finished
her challenge in a year that saw her first attempt at the Boston Marathon in
April marred by the deadly bombing. She was at mile 21 when the blasts occurred
near the finish line and was among those runners who didn’t get to finish the
race.
“After much, much thought, I’ve decided to go back and
tackle Boston again,” she said, adding that about 4,000 runners who didn’t
finish the race, but would have based on their times, were given a 10-day window
in August to sign up for next year’s race, an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.
With four states left on her challenge after Boston, Thomas’
next half-marathon was in Lincoln, Neb. The race was sponsored by the National
Guard and ended inside the University of Nebraska football stadium. Thomas said
she wasn’t afraid to run, but the military presence brought out some emotions
nonetheless. While the race normally began with cannons being fired, that
tradition was set aside out of respect for the Boston victims.
“It was a little hard,” she said. “It was quite emotional.”
But while she normally would get nervous before races, the
Boston experience “put things in perspective” and the pre-race nerves have gone
away since. She finished the Chicago Half-Marathon in just over two and a half
hours, “one of the slower days” for someone who prefers to be 10 to 15 minutes
faster.
But …
“It wasn’t about time that day,” she said. “It was just
about the experience.”
As she made the final turn toward the finish line in Chicago,
she stopped.
“Everyone stopped and asked what’s wrong, and I said I just
didn’t know if I could cross that last finish line,” she said, then chuckled: “My
son said, ‘You can run and cry at the same time. Let’s go.’ And that’s exactly
what we did.”
Now that the challenge has been conquered, what’s next? More
running of course.
“There are a few races that I love and would like to go back
to,” she said.
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