War worries, a new baby and 26.2 miles all at once

Cranbury duo runs first New York marathon amid serious concerns and a joyous adoption

By: Rich Fisher
   Every year, thousands of people run in the New York City Marathon, all with a little story behind them. Some tales are better than others, but they all have the same ending — an attempted 26.2-mile run through the five boroughs of New York City.
   Two of those sagas for the 2005 event were written right here in Cranbury, as a pair of 35-year-old moms trained and ran in their first New York Marathon during a year when their lives were anything but normal.
   Jill Staples, who was born and raised in Cranbury, recently adopted a baby daughter — Tess — from Korea. Her training began before Tess arrived, and continued after she got here. She also had 4-year old twin boys, Jack and Drew, to tend to.
   Cynthia Smithers, who grew up in State College, Pa., before moving to Cranbury in 2001, had the burden of worrying about her husband, Rob, who was stationed in Iraq for a year. Not only that, but she was literally a single mom taking care of 5-year-old R.J. and 7-year-old Nichole.
   And yet, despite these "slight" distractions, the pair took on the grueling training sessions necessary to compete in one of the hardest marathons in America.
   And on Nov. 6, running proudly with their names on their shirts, the two women completed their journey in admirable times. Staples finished in 4 hours, 36 minutes, and Smithers clocked in at 4 hours, 53 minutes.
   They ran side by side for 22 miles, before Staples left her pal behind.
   "In every race we’re in, she’s always crossing the finish line first," Smithers said with a laugh. "She just took out her iPod and put on some tunes."
   Up until marathon day, however, the two were dancing side by side on the training course after meeting at the New York Sports Club in Plainsboro. Neither ran in high school, as Staples played field hockey and basketball at Notre Dame High, and Smithers played volleyball and was a cheerleader before heading off to Penn State.
   Both began running after college, and eventually they ran into each other.
   "We were both at the gym and Jill was saying how she was a runner, and that we should both run some time," Smithers said. "I’m like ‘Yeah, whatever.’
   "I really don’t like to run with people. It’s more of an individual sport for me. But I agreed to do it and we were so equal in our running, it was great. I wasn’t slowing her down, I wasn’t going faster than her, which can often be the case in running."
   They paired up last March, and the first race they ran together was the Broad Street 10-mile Run in Philadelphia in May. Staples had done the race before, but it was the first organized race that Smithers competed in.
   "She was totally my drill sergeant from the seven-mile point on," Smithers said.
   Smithers found the experience enjoyable. So much so, that when the conversation turned to the New York Marathon while she was having dinner with friends, she didn’t totally abandon the idea.
   "They were talking about applying to get into the marathon, and we were saying ‘Oh that’s so wrong.’" Smithers said. "We were thinking you had to be done in three or four hours, but they said they were shooting for five or six hours. Jill said if we can walk during it, we could do it."
   So the women both took part in a lottery to receive applications to run. When the drawing took place in July, Smithers was one of the lucky winners but Staples was shut out. As luck would have it, Cranbury resident Beth Metheizer received an application through UPS and was able to wrangle another one for Staples, and the race was on.
   "Cindy was real interested in trying a marathon," Staples said. "At that point I didn’t have Tess and my sons were in nursery school for two-and-a-half hours, three times a week. So we trained when both our kids were in school."
   Ironically, in August, Tess arrived in Cranbury the same day Rob Smithers was returning home from Fallujah.
   "She was driving down to Philadelphia airport at the same time I was driving up to Newark," Staples said. "It was freaky."
   The sudden change in their lives did not deter either woman, who decided there was no turning back. Staples was aided by a veteran baby sitter in Melissa Madden, a former distance runner at Princeton High who certainly understood the importance of training.
   Still, things were different.
   "It became a little harder then," Staples said. "We did a lot more runs at 5 in the morning, that kind of stuff. Fortunately, Tess was just a very happy baby. It was a very smooth transition. She was sleeping through the night, so I felt I could handle it all both physically and mentally.
   "We followed a schedule set by the New York Running Association. We were basically trying to get about 35 to 40 miles a week, and get a long run of 18 to 20 miles in. Wednesdays and Saturdays would be our long runs, Mondays and Fridays we would run at 5."
   For both women, the training served as a nice diversion from new babies and husbands at war.
   "I absolutely think it helped," Staples said. "It was a good outlet to focus on something else, to relieve stress besides taking care of kids."
   "Running for me is a huge stress relief," Smithers agreed. "As hard as it is to get time alone, this is the best kind of time alone to get. It helped clear my head and put things in perspective."
   Especially when she spoke with Rob.
   "We would chat and he would say ‘Good job with your running,’" she said. "They were doing races over there to keep the troops occupied and he would say ‘I just ran five miles.’ I figured if he could do that in 100-degree weather, I can do that here in 80."
   And so the two trained through the summer and fall, running from Cranbury through the back roads of Plainsboro to the Forrestal Center and back again.
   "I figured ‘What’s 26 miles?’" Smithers said. "But every time I’d clock it in the car, I’d be like ‘This is so far.’ It took me 35 minutes just to drive it in my car!
   "I had no idea how much training it would take. Every run would be an hour-and-a-half, two hours. The last thing I wanted to do was pay a baby sitter and go out and kill myself running. At the same time, it was worth every penny. Once we started training, I was like ‘OK, I’m in.’"
   When the big day approached, the women were armed with advice from Staples’ friends Jane and Carl Holstrom, who were marathon veterans.
   "They gave us a lot of tips, Staples said. "But I was worried about it. I was thinking ‘I know I can do at least 15 miles.’ We just went into it with the right attitude, just to enjoy it. It was an unknown experience, let’s have a good time."
   When the race finally started for their group, the Cranbury duo were not setting a blistering pace. Then again, neither was anyone else.
   "We knew if you start real hard, by mile seven you can’t run," Staples said. "We decided to pace ourselves, which was not a problem because when the cannon went off we couldn’t move because there were so many people."
   Their splits were over 11 minutes for the first two miles, as the crowd necessitated the slow pace.
   "We were literally elbow to elbow," Smithers said. "I was passing some girl who was swinging her arm, and her thumb nail gouged my arm, we were that close. I call them my war wounds."
   Once the pack loosened, the women were on their way. Employing strategy from the Holstroms, they made every water stop along the way.
   "That was a huge tip," Smithers said. "It was more psychological than physical, like ‘OK, here’s another water stop, one more mile, let’s make it to the next one.’ It was a good thing to focus on."
   And as the race drew toward its conclusion on an uncommonly warm November day, all the sweat and pain, all the hassle of scheduling baby sitters and waking up with the Dunkin’ Donut makers, started to seem worth it.
   "It just got more exciting as we went along, because there were bigger crowds," Staples said. "I would say at about the 23-mile mark, I thought I might actually do this. The hardest part was, I thought it was 26 miles, but it’s 26.2. That point-two seemed so long.
   "When I finished, I was trying not to cry, I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe it. Everyone around you is very excited. The crowd is unbelievable with support, they all scream your name. It’s very emotional. Then you just feel great."
   At the finish line, the women were greeted by Smithers’ father, Staples’ husband and their good friend Susan Movoides, who was snapping pictures for posterity.
   "It was amazing," Smithers said. "I thought ‘I just ran 26 miles, this is the experience of a lifetime.’ I was thinking that I made it, and I’m never running another one. I was so sore and so tired. But two hours later, after I was cooled off, I said ‘I can run another.’"
   And it likely is an experience they will look back on with growing pride as time moves on. Especially considering everything else that was going on in their lives at the time.
   "I didn’t know how it would feel," said Smithers, who summed it up perfectly when she added, "I thought it would be a great experience, but I had no idea how great it would be."