Runner defies doctors’ prognosis, scores marathon win
Ricardo Estremera
Photos by Samantha Joseph
By Samantha Joseph
Outlook writer
Running across the finish line last Sunday morning in downtown Tallahassee gave Kate Reed yet another reason to feel a little vindicated. Especially since she was the first woman to finish the half marathon event in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
She disproved the news that doctors gave her after she sustained an injury that was supposed to be career ending.
“I was told I would never run again by several doctors, but I’m incredibly stubborn,” said Reed, who ran the half marathon in a time of 1:13.43. The race was a prelude to the full marathon over 26.1 miles.
The diagnosis that Reed received a little more than eight years ago has always been her motivation, since she began preparing to return to racing competitively.
“I think that was the best thing anyone could’ve said to me because it just made me want to get better and made me want to get well,” she said. “I knew that once I was (healed) I would just try and enjoy my running a lot more and not put so much pressure on myself.”
Reed said she ran for Great Britain in the Olympics in 2008 and soon after became ill from a post-operative infection in her bones. In all, she had to get 10 operations on her ankle in order to save her foot.
Now that she has gotten her first half marathon out of the way, Reed said she is setting her sights on the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. She hopes to qualify for the 10,000-meter race.
In the men’s division of the half marathon, Ricardo Estremera took home the $1,000 top prise for winning the division in a time of 1:09.00. That was 8 minutes faster than the previous record set a year ago.
It was the first half marathon for Estremera, who is a career steeplechase runner. He said he didn’t prepare to make the start Sunday.
“There was a race,” he said, “(and) I was around so I jumped in.”
Estremera said he also tried to qualify for the Rio Olympics last summer but fell short by a few seconds. He plans to begin training for another shot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he said.
