She Likes To Take Long Way Spokane Resident Closing In On Her 75th 26.2-Mile Race
The first sign that Carol Dellinger likes to be identified with her sport is the small gold earrings.
The numbers 26.2 are linked together by a jeweler’s post. The decibel point is a diamond stud, making it stand out like an exclamation mark.
Dellinger explains she received the earrings as a gift after completing her 50th marathon. The earrings, said the 33-year-old runner, are not worn daily. But the gold medallion, that hangs on a chain around her neck, rarely comes off.
The thick necklace, also displaying 26.2 - the mileage of a marathon - is set off by two diamonds. There’s the first one, a gift after finishing her 25th marathon, and the second small gem, bought after her 50th marathon.
Soon, a third diamond will be added to the collection. Dellinger, a north Spokane resident, will run in the Coeur d’Alene Marathon on May 26. It will be her 75th in less than 10 years.
“I consider Coeur d’Alene special because it’s my home marathon,” said Dellinger, who grew up in Deer Park and graduated from Deer Park High School in 1980.
The North Idaho marathon is the closest to home on Dellinger’s list, which includes races in Honolulu, Dallas and Anchorage, Alaska.
It wasn’t always life on the run for Dellinger, a certified dental assistant of 14-1/2 years, and it certainly wasn’t always long-distance running. “When I was 23, I decided to run because I was out of shape; fat,” said Dellinger, who was close to packing 200 pounds on her 5-foot-4 frame. “A mile here, a mile there. And I realized I had good endurance.”
Running was not Dellinger’s first introduction to sports.
At Deer Park, she competed in basketball and softball, but never track and field. She also attempted to walk on to the Community Colleges of Spokane basketball team, only to get cut.
“As a team-oriented person, I always wanted to find an individual sport where you couldn’t blame anyone else for failure. I wanted something that was all up to you.”
The isolated rigors of marathon running were the perfect solution, because when your legs begin to ache and burn it’s just you out there, explained Dellinger.
Dellinger’s first race was the 1986 Capital City Marathon in Olympia. She finished in 4 hours, 58 minutes, got her first whiff of that intangible endorphin high, and the addiction began.
She has since shed 60 pounds, which she has kept off nearly seven years, and has dropped her body fat from 33 percent to 17.
Dellinger’s most eye-raising accomplishment is that she has raced in 73 marathons and has finished all, injury free. No. 74 is May 19 at Olympia, a week before Coeur d’Alene.
And by her own admission, not in blazing speed.
Her fastest time was 4:19:29 at the Las Vegas Marathon in February 1990. Her average time is 4:30, which isn’t likely to improve much. But that’s OK with Dellinger. She has her mind set on another number - 100 marathons.
“I’m running the fastest I can. I have good, strong muscle tone … but I’m not your skinny little stick runner,” said Dellinger, who’s thick-legged body structure hardly resembles that of Africa’s Colleen De Reucke, Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba or the small pack of women world-class runners who captured Spokane’s attention at Sunday’s Lilac Bloomsday Run.
Dellinger’s high endurance allows her to run 40 miles a week, with one day of cross training. She frequently indulges herself in deep tissue massages.
When she reaches the century mark, Dellinger plans to taper off and run four or five marathons a year. Although she has competed in 20 states, she has never raced at the Boston or New York marathons. New York runners are selected by lottery. Boston, however, is a tougher challenge, for the qualifying time is 3:40. Dellinger is about 1 hour off that pace.
If endurance were taken into consideration, the Spokane runner would have a lifetime exemption.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo