First Marathon Story: The Race She Had to Run Twice: Redemption at the Eugene Marathon w/ Gina Loschiavo

Taylor Sayles
Jul 6
4 min read

Podcast guest Maggie is interviewed by host Taylor Sayles

Gina never thought she'd be a runner. She learned to love movement in college and graduate school, but didn't really start exploring running until 2012 or 2013, where she ran a few 5Ks (it didn't stick). In 2016, she texted a bunch of friends saying "hey we should do a half marathon" - signed up for a Disney race, and after that, she officially caught the running bug.

The "Year of Running" to "Mom"

Gina calls 2017 - 2018 her "year of running." She was running PRs, feeling the most fit of her life, and set a half marathon pace record she still hasn't beaten to this day.

In 2018, she got pregnant. She felt miles and miles away from her previous fitness after baby number one, and then baby number two, and she struggled with returning to running in her new body. She found she had to reframe her PRs in a new way: post-baby PRs.

For a while, all she wanted to do was run a mile. Gina tried to take the pressure off, putting no expectations on her return to running and not signing up for races. But as the years went on, she found herself drawn back in by the Disney races. She signed up for RunDisney in January 2024 and then signed up for her first marathon at the Eugene Marathon a few months later.

Run Club Nerves

A friend signed up to do the Eugene Marathon with Gina, where she finally realized "oh, ok, we're doing this!" She signed up in May 2024, giving herself 11 months to build up to the marathon distance.

As a self-described slow, back-of-the-pack runner, it was important for Gina to find people with similar backgrounds and journeys to motivate her to stay consistent through the early months of training. She slotted in four days of running, two days of strength, and a rest day. In October, she joined a run club, and introduced speed workouts. Gina was nervous to show up, nervous about her slower pace.

The first run club she went to was terrifying. Thankfully, it was a track workout, so she didn't have to worry about getting left behind, even though others were lapping her. But the group was encouraging, and having a community cheering her on made such a difference.

Hitting the Milestones

One of Gina's first big milestones was hitting 11 miles by herself. She had obviously hit the distance during her previous half marathons, but this was a much different experience. Anything after that felt 1) anything she thought she could do, and 2) like hitting a PR every weekend.

But with that, she was nervous. She questioned what she was doing, why she thought she could do this. It was scary to tackle this goal. She had a friend training with her virtually, but physically, she was all by herself.

She built in extra weeks to her training, and decided to do a long run every other week. Gina looks back on her experience as the "perfect experience," minus the one 30K race that went terribly after she went out too fast. But, mentally, she felt like the terrible race did wonders for her marathon preparation. She started to feel confident heading into the taper (which she loved, by the way).

Two days before the race, her husband, who was meeting her on race day with her kids, called to say one of the kids was sick. Gina was worried she might get sick, wasn't sure if her family was going to be able to come cheer for her. She told her husband: don't worry about it, don't keep communicating with me - if you show up tomorrow, that's great. She accepted that there wouldn't be anyone cheering for her on the course, and was a little disappointed.

Gina was emotional heading to the start line, already crying as they approached. She never thought she would be lining up at a marathon start line. Runners didn't look like her. Runners were elite athletes. This moment proved all of that wrong. And even better - she saw her family on the course, her kids cheering her on.

The race started out great. Mile 1 through 16 were perfect. But at Mile 17, one of her friends started to feel bad, and they started slowing down. They walked for a few miles, feeling like it was important to stay with her group. Eventually, they encouraged her to go ahead, and they'd see her at the finish line. She took off running around Mile 22. But then...she and another runner ran off the course accidentally. They were realizing something might be wrong. With all of her training, she had never thought about what to do if she went off course.

Gina was doubting if she could finish the race at this point. She got back on track right around Mile 24, and saw her friends ahead of her, and she ran to catch up. Gina ended up finishing the race alongside her friends after all. But she was so upset with herself for getting off track, that she felt like she didn't experience the joy or the accomplishment of the finish line. She didn't feel at peace, and ultimately, after dealing with mom guilt, decided she wanted to do another marathon. She signed up for the Eugene Marathon again, with unfinished business.

The training block wasn't as perfect this time around, but she knew now that literally anything could happen on race day.

Spoiler alert: she finished, without going off course.

Lessons Learned