Eugene woman warms up for Boston Marathon by running Eugene Half Marathon

By Linden Moore 

Bill Manning stood at the finishers festival of the Eugene Marathon with his son while waiting for his wife. The father of two searched for Laura Lee McIntyre, who just finished the half marathon. A veteran runner, McIntyre took in her surroundings of the her fellow runners and the running community that she was surrounded with.

“It was great,” McIntyre said of her race. “It’s a beautiful course and perfect weather.”

McIntyre had just completed one of her many half marathons, finishing with a personal record of 1 hour, 43 minutes, 19 seconds – and beat her previous time of 1:44. But when McIntyre came over to her children, she didn’t show any signs of sweat or tiredness, rather a calm voice and poised presence.

“Today was definitely my fastest,” she said.

McIntyre is no stranger to running, and has dedicated most of her life to the sport. After competing in various races, she set a goal to compete in the Boston Marathon. Eight years worth of injuries and two pregnancies later, she finally qualified for the 2018 Boston Marathon with a finish time of 3 hours and 37 minutes.

“I burst into tears I was so happy. When you run a hard race, you give it everything you possible can,” McIntyre said. “You feel very raw emotionally and physically you’re completely depleted but you’re just happy.”

Part of her training included working with a local running coach, Joe Uhan, to help get her body into marathon shape following her years of setbacks.

McIntyre has been training for many years, starting when she lived in Syracuse, New York. Included in her accomplishments was training for multiple half marathons, even when she was pregnant with her son and daughter. She consulted a doctor to help tailor her training plan, and with his help, ran multiple half marathons during each pregnancy.

“You have to listen to your body a lot and slow down when it’s too much,” McIntyre said. “You obviously can’t train at the level you’d typically train when you’re not pregnant, but fortunately I had a great doctor. He said, ‘As long as you’re fit and healthy there’s no reason why you should stop running.’”

McIntyre is supported by her husband Bill, who also shares a passion for the sport. In addition to being a runner himself, Manning supports a global organization called “Meg’s Miles,” a non-profit organization in memory of a runner who was killed by a drunk driver back in 2014.

“It brings awareness to distracted drunk driving,” Manning said. “There’s a few races a year that people make a point to get together. I think in the future we’ll try and partner with some other organizations that bring the same type of awareness.”

Linden Moore

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