'Shaping' up to Boston

For Trish (Omoth) Kutz of New Rockford, now living in Williston, running for her health, and later for competition, has served as a type of mental therapy.

The 2004 NRHS graduate has withstood personal tragedy on her way to becoming a marathoner, and this past September 28, staked her claim to compete in one of the biggest races in the world.

Via e-mail message, Kutz learned that she qualified for the Boston Marathon, to be held on Monday, April 15, known as Patriots' Day to the locals on the East Coast.

The 38-year-old crisis/triage coordinator for the North Dakota Department of Human Services in Williston ran her first of the "six major marathons" in Chicago last October 8, and Boston will be the second of that sextet.

"Running has always been kind of an outlet for me," said the mother of three boys and wife to Travis Kutz, originally from Carrington. "When I started running the half-marathon and then full marathons, my competitive nature had me chasing the next PR [personal record]."

In high school, Kutz played volleyball, basketball and track for the Rockets, and developed her sense of fortitude and never-say-die on those athletic fields.

The roads and trails became even more of an escape for her following the suicide of her brother, Nate Omoth, on December 1, 2014.

"When Nate passed away, I ran for therapy, you could say," Kutz said. "I would dedicate each step, each mile to him, and I still do."

She says that when a run is getting particularly hard, "I always have him pushing me to get through it, and I tell myself that this 26.2 miles of pain is nowhere near the pain Nate was going through."

Before full marathons, she started with 5K (5,000 meter) races, going up to 10K and half-marathons.

Kutz says she started to put more of a focus on her training around three years ago, when she met her coach, April Lund, a competitive marathoner running for USA Track and Field (USATF) in the Masters class now living in Bismarck.

"She has held me accountable, customized my training and really taught me how to train smarter," said Kutz.

Before meeting Lund, Kutz says she constantly ran in "full race mode" and would get injured easily, and was once on the shelf for 10 months.

"Right now, I'm incorporating speed training, tempo runs, long run days, strength training, and focusing on really running my easy runs. Those days are so important for recovery."

In the intervening weeks between now and Boston, she has trained at Central City Wellness Center in Carrington.

"I'm always thankful for hometown gyms when the roads are icy," she says.

Her training approach is "pretty consistent", in her words.

"April provides my training schedule at the beginning of the week, and it doesn't change much unless my body is telling me something isn't right," she says. "I balance my nutrition, especially leading up to the marathon, to ensure I have adequate energy reserves to get through 26-plus miles."

Prior to marathons, Kutz's pre-race meal is a baked potato and a steak. While the nerves before the starting gun fires are something to navigate, she says those usually disappear within the first few miles.

"I keep fueling myself during the marathon with gels and water," she says. "I know I've had a good performance if I don't hit the wall at about 22 miles."

When she sees her family at the conclusion of the race, Kutz says that all her hard work and preparation is validated.

"My parents, Kevin and Karen, have been so amazing," she says. "They make almost every run, sometimes traveling 7-8 hours. They'll be with me in Boston, as well as my husband."

Kutz has always been appreciative of her level of support, no matter if they're at the race physically, or cheering from afar.

At the Fargo Marathon last May 20, her time was good enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but she wanted to give herself at least one more chance at a race in South Dakota.

"For my age group, I had to qualify in 3:35, and I ran a 3:25 [down there]," she said.

Kutz notes that the prestige of the Boston Marathon is such that they actually had to turn away 11,039 potential runners because they had a record number of automatic qualifiers.

"The cutoff was 5 minutes, 29 seconds under the standard," she says. "When I received the confirmation that I was indeed accepted, it didn't hit me right away. It took me a bit, then the tears came and all the emotions came in full force."

Sort of like Forrest Gump, Kutz figures that she's come this far, and she might as well keep on going.

"I don't plan to stop running anytime soon," she says. "After Boston, there's only four more since I ran Chicago already. I'd love to compete in New York, Berlin, Tokyo and London."

She concluded by saying, "Ultimately, I love showing my kids that you can do whatever you like to or want to as long as you work hard, are dedicated and have commitment."