Special Interests: In it for the Long Run

When not at work, May Carlson can often be found running; the longer the distance the better, too.

May Carlson admits to being "a geek" as a youth. She wasn't athletic or interested in sports. So when she went from running 5ks to half-marathons to marathons, and even longer distances, in about six years, it surprised her.

"I never thought I could do it," she said about finishing a 5k, adding she often wondered why people would run. "Now I'm obsessed."

Obsessed might not begin to describe her relationship with a sport she took up in 2015 when her now fiancé registered for the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon.

"He signed up for the half, and I signed up for the 5k," said Carlson, who has worked at Thomas Nelson since 2011. "And that was it. I was hooked."

After that first race, she would enter one or two events a year, still just 5 kilometers, which is 3.1 miles. She wouldn't train much. In 2017, she started entering races on a monthly basis.

In 2020, when the pandemic started and she was working from home, she stepped up her game. On her lunch break or before work, she would run about 5 miles.

"May of 2020, that's when I run every day," she said. "The whole month of July 2020, I never missed a day. I just run five miles every day."

She began to increase it to 6 miles a day. Then she signed up for a 10k, then a half-marathon.

"It seems like the 5k is only a warm-up now for me," she said.

She didn't stop at half-marathons. A few months before completing her first marathon in November in Richmond, she did a 10-hour endurance run at Windsor Castle in Smithfield, logging almost 35.5 miles.

"It's interesting because I never thought I would be obsessed with it," she said.

She knows it's hard to explain to those who don't run, and a lot of people don't understand unless they are a runner, too.

"It feels really good," she said. "Every night before I go to bed, I look forward to (the next day's run). It's so weird."

She considers herself a road runner, but has entered trail races. On Jan. 16, she did a 10-mile run at York River State Park, and finished second in her age group.

"It was a challenge," she said, mostly because she fell after stepping on a root covered by leaves. "I hurt my knees, but I got up and just keep on pushing."

There was a woman behind her, but Carlson was determined to stay ahead of her.

"I was so glad I pushed myself harder," she said. "It was not hard enough to place first. I was still proud."

On Jan. 30, she's participating in an eight-hour run at Sandy Bottom Nature Park. Since she is 45, she wants to run 45 miles on the 3.5-mile course. That is a little more than 1 1/2 laps an hour.

Following that, she has the Newport News One City Marathon on March 6. Her goal is to finish in 3 hours, 50 minutes so she will qualify for the Boston Marathon in April. That target time is 20 minutes faster than her Richmond marathon time.

"Wish me luck," she said.

Carlson grew up in the Philippines but moved to Michigan in 1999. A year later, she moved to Richmond, where she lived for eight years. She moved to Newport News in 2008, and has lived in Hampton since 2015. She started as a part-time employee at the College as a cashier. After three years, she accepted a full-time position in Student Accounting, where she still works.

Her fiancé, they have been engaged five years and together for 10, no long runs. He hurt his ankle in that Virginia Beach event in 2015, had surgery and hasn't run since. However, her teenage son runs cross country, but he's much faster than she is.

"His minutes per mile is sub-8," she said, adding she might be able to do that pace for a 5K but that's it.

She doesn't think what she has done with running is anything others can't do.

"Actually, if you put your mind to it, you can do it," she said. "If you free your mind, your legs will follow."

Seven years into her running, and she can't imagine not doing it.

"Oh no. It's so weird because if I miss a day, I feel weak," she said, adding when her running schedule was interrupted by the storm at the beginning of the year, she missed it.

"I told my fiancé I don't feel good," she said.

He often teases her about her obsession. Her response?

"Sorry. You got me into it. "

About Special Interests: This is a series highlighting outside interests of Thomas Nelson faculty and staff. If you would like to recommend someone or yourself, please email Bob Flynn in Communications and Marketing at flynnr@vpcc.edu.