Island runners take on Boston Marathon, Oregon 50-miler

By Anneli Fogt • May 9, 2017 1:30 am
Left: Islander Debby Jackson a this year’s Boston Marathon. The race marked her 10th marathon in 10 years. Right: At the Tillamook Burn 50-miler in Oregon, islander Tara Vanselow had what she called a fantastic race and finished eighth of 122 women. (Courtesy Photos)
Left: Islander Debby Jackson a this year’s Boston Marathon. The race marked her 10th marathon in 10 years. Right: At the Tillamook Burn 50-miler in Oregon, islander Tara Vanselow had what she called a fantastic race and finished eighth of 122 women. (Courtesy Photos)

There are hundreds of runners on Vashon Island. Driving down the highway on any given morning, people of all ages can be seen running along the wide road shoulders. Some are recreational runners, but others use Vashon’s hilly terrain as a training ground for some of the country’s longest and most grueling races — marathons and ultra marathons.

This spring, two longtime island runners exhibited the results of their training at the Boston Marathon and Oregon’s 50-mile Tillamook Burn Trail Run. Debby Jackson ran first in the Boston Marathon on April 17. Then, on April 29, islander and Vashon High School counselor Tara Vanselow took on a 50-mile trail run in Tillamook, Oregon. The two had very different experiences.

Jackson, 65, ran the marathon in five and a half hours. A result she said she was not happy with.

“I had to walk three miles,” she said. “I never run that slow. I’m not sure what happened. It was warm out and there was lots of waiting around, getting tired.”

Despite her slower-than-hoped-for time, she said the experience, and seeing 30,000 people all “doing this pretty hard thing,” was neat.

“The people in Boston are amazing,” she said. “The fans, they cheer. It was a great experience.”

Jackson has been running marathons for the past decade. Her first was the Tacoma Marathon in 2007 that she decided to run because her daughter was.

“For some reason I said I’d do it with her,” Jackson said.

She then ran the Seattle, Portland and Seattle Rock n’ Roll marathons, among others, before qualifying for the Boston Marathon in Utah in September 2015.

“I always say I won’t do it again (run a marathon), but then I do. I swore Boston was going to be my last one, but since my time was so slow, I want to do another one,” she said.

Meanwhile, Vanselow had one of the best races of her running career at the Tillamook Burn. She finished the 50-mile race in 10 hours and 27 minutes, in the top ten for the women.

“I had a fantastic race! The trails were beautiful, the volunteers were amazing and I felt great. Finished 8th overall for the women,” she said in an email.

She also thanked her husband who she said “was an incredible support for me during training and the day of. He spent 12 hours out in the woods spotting me, filling my water bottles, making sure I was eating and checking in every time he saw me.”

Vanselow said she has been a runner for most of her life. She participated in track and cross-country in high school, but found trail running about 10 years ago.

“It was an epiphany because it combined the things I loved,” she said.

She said the Tillamook race fulfilled her goal of running a 50-miler before her 50th birthday. She’s a regular runner, but trained specifically for the race for six months and said the key is to train on tired legs.

“Ultra runners are independent, stubborn people,” she said. “I think we all have our things. People like to push themselves. I have always liked to find my personal limits and push my edge. I crave quiet, alone time and that’s how I recharge.”