CHRISTINE ANGE HOLDS LOFTY SPOT IN GRAND PRIX
At the start of the racing season the runners who have run the most races naturally garner the most points in the USATF grand prix series. After completing three races in 2005, Christine Ange of Rockaway holds the lead.
For the 56 year old, who only started racing ten years ago the news was just another fun factoid in her career. Ange can be called a Late Bloomer, although up until her husband Joel got into running and racing she had no interest of her own in the sport.
“I never ran before,” said Ange. “I had never had any intention of doing anything that would make me sweat.”
When her husband started running, Ange would go with him. Then she would find that he had signed her up for the race.
“Then I couldn’t back out,” she said. “I was really a kind of reluctant runner.
I didn’t have any high goals. I just wanted to finish.”
“I never wanted to do anything athletic in my life,” said Ange. “Girls didn’t do anything athletic when I was in high school.”
“Back then, the thought of running and sweating and getting messy and everything just did not appeal to me.”
Now the duo are at races nearly every weekend during racing season.
“I feel like a slug if I miss a race,” she said. “I’m not a great runner but it’s like a habit. I have to go out there and do it.”
Ange trains six days per week with half of her workouts on a treadmill, getting in an hour before boredom ends the session.
When she runs outside she usually runs out toward Picatinny Arsenal and Mt. Hope Road, where the scenery is nice and the roads are not busy. It is also a hilly run, a feature that may have prepared her for the Newark Distance Classic 20K that she did three weeks ago. It was her first race at that distance and she did not know how tough the course was going to be.
“That was the hilliest course!” she said. “I finished on rubber legs. It’s a good thing it’s downhill – that last – that finish. It took a lot out of you.”
Ange has had her highs and her lows. One of her lows came at the Warner Lambert (now Pfizer) United Way 5K in Morris Plains when she was knocked to the ground by an overeager runner pushing past her at the start.
“I went down and my glasses flew off ,” said Ange. “I scraped my knee and elbow. But I picked myself up and put my glasses back on and I finished.”
Not only did she finish, after getting cleaned up at the medical tent, Ange found that she had won a watch by placing in her age division.
Ange has won other prizes in her past ten years of racing, including two model cars that are given to the age division top three at the Ridgewood Run. But the most surprising win was at the Newport 10,000 in Jersey City last May. The new race had a sizeable purse for all comers and there was a horde of professional runners who came to vie for the money. In addition there was a small purse that was designated for members of USATF-NJ only. Much to her surprise Ange picked up the third place New Jersey money.
“Is that a scream or what! There was all those Kenyans in that race and then there was me,” said Ange, who finished in a modest 52:37. That time is right in her range for 10K.
“I like the longer ones,” she said. “It’s hard for me to get started. That’s why I like the longer distance. Once I get into my rhythm I just keep going.”
“Who knows how long I’ll be doing this so I’ll just keep going until I have to stop,” she said. “There’s always that fear of injury.”
She and Joel have had more than their share of injuries but usually not on the same schedule.
“I can’t remember the last time that we were both feeling good at the same time,” said Ange.
When her husband is injured he is able to run with her and she finds that comforting.
“It gives me a little encouragement,” she said. “Usually I get out there and I’m all alone. There’s no one who runs at my pace.”
“You start with a crowd and then it thins out and I’m all alone. It’s nice to have someone with you.”
This morning both of the Anges will be running together at the Equinox 20K in Piscataway. From a woman who didn’t like the notion of sweating, she’s come a long way. She’ll put in 12.4 miles with a little sweat, maybe some slush and mud and certainly messy. The Christine Ange of 2005 wouldn’t have it any other way.
First Published in the Daily Record of Morris County New Jersey, March 20, 2005
Copyright 03/20/05 Madeline Bost