Metro Area Athlete Profile - Melinda Stock

SBRStL - Melinda, tell us about how you got started running for fun and competition.

Melinda - "I first started out running in grade school. A couple of friends of mine decided to go out for the track team, they weren’t really very athletic, but they were good friends of mine so I decided to go ahead and go out for track. Well… there wasn’t anybody to do the mile. No one could run more than 2 laps without stopping. I was the only one who could run 4 laps around the 400 meter track without stopping. So I was a miler…..When I got to High School, I decided to go out for track. I didn’t go out for cross country because I simply didn’t know it existed (laughs)……The first day of track practice the coach said 'How many of you are milers?' I raised my hand, and he said, ‘OK, now you’re a 2 miler'.…Well I made the all conference team and I can still remember overhearing my mother say ‘We can’t go to the party because we have to go to Melinda’s all conference banquet, she might not make it again.' ( laughs ) Well, let’s just say Mom had to go to a few more banquets before my high school career was over."

SBRStL - How much of your talent/success is genetic and how much would you categorize as hard work?

Melinda - "I would say it’s probably a little bit of both. I always thought it was just hard work because I do get up at 4:30 in the morning. That’s when I do all my runs. I’m very self-motivated. But recently, I’ve worked with some other people. I’ve done some coaching and mentoring. I realized that there are a lot of people that work hard and that sometimes no matter how hard you work, you get to a point where you don’t progress. As far as percentages go, I’m not sure, but I definitely think its both."

SBRStL - Where’s your training focus these days?

Melinda - "My goal is to qualify for the Women’s Marathon Olympic Trials which are going to be in Forest Park. I’ve started working with a coach and he has had a lot of success working with Olympic caliber runners. So far so good, but that’s my goal and hopefully I’ll achieve it this fall. I’m planning to do Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota and use that as kind of a dress rehearsal. You know, get used to my coach and start working in the right direction, then qualify in the fall. I thought it was at 2:50 which I felt was an attainable goal, then it went to 2:48. I thought "Oh, No!" but my coach says it’s totally do-able. We’ve taken my times from 2001 for 10k and 10 miles and plugged them into marathon predictors. I’m right there at 2:48. So, it’s going to be a stretch, but it’s attainable."

SBRStL - Can you describe your current favorite workout?

Melinda - "Oh…..my favorite is just my old standby....which is to just go out and go for a nice easy ten miler. Ten miles is just about the perfect distance, in my opinion, because you can really feel tired but yet its not so far that you don’t feel recovered the next day."

SBRStL - How’s your diet been ?

Melinda - (laughs) "Well….it’s been pretty bad this winter.  I was just saying to my coach that I could lose at least five pounds to get to where I want to be. He said the marathon training will do that. My philosophy is to eat as wide a variety of food as you can. I impart that on the kids."

SBRStL - I know bringing three lives into this world at once was as physically and mentally demanding as any race you’ve done. It set you back bit. You’ve come a long ways.

Melinda - "I can still remember coming home from the hospital on a December 18 and I started opening Christmas cards. The first one I opened was from a friend of mine in Chicago. I had been up there in ’98 to do  the Duathlon National Championships and I was in good shape. She sent me those pictures in my Christmas card of me doing the duathlon…… I’m sitting there after having been in the hospital for 6 weeks….bed rest for 4 months... and you know..I  kinda looked at all the skin hanging and I was running a fever and all....and I just started crying. My husband Don said, ‘You have these three beautiful children. Why are you crying?’ and I just showed him the picture. I can look back and laugh now but I can remember thinking, 'I’ll never be able to run again (laughs).'  When I set a PR last summer, I ran a 16:57 5k on a USATF certified course. I was very happy to finally be under 17:00, When I started to get back in the PR range, I thought 'Wow, I never thought I would be here and come back so far.' "

SBRStL - Is multi-sport something you might get back into one day?

Melinda - "I hope to get back into biking someday, but right now my goal is qualifying for the April 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials.  I took private swimming lessons at the St. Peters RecPlex in January and February 1999, but ruined the Eustachian tube in my left ear trying to do flip turns during my first lesson.  The instructor had never taught adult swimming before and shouldn't have been teaching me this at that time.  I still can't hear properly in my left ear because of the damage that was done."

SBRStL - Like most runners, I’m sure you do this for the money, but seriously, should any potentials sponsors reading this contact you?

Melinda - "Hey, I’m always, always open for sponsors..... Fleet Feet has always been great. They were the one sponsor that stuck with me through the pregnancy and everything. I was sponsored by Powerbar before I had the triplets and I’m trying to get back into the energy bar product sponsors again."

SBRStL - And now for the burning question. Will we find you most often behind a baby jogger or baby walker with Grant, Erin, and Kira?

Melinda - ( laughs )  "..baby walker.."

SBRStL - What advice would you give to someone wanting to make the jump from recreational running to competitive running?

Melinda - "I'm not sure I'm qualified to suggest how someone should make the jump from recreational to competitive running.  My first inclination would be to build a solid mileage base of 30 miles running per week and run 5 days per week.  Then, start entering races every few weeks or so.  Fleet Feet Sports is a good place for people go to gain information like this and they host speed workouts at Francis Howell North High School on Wednesdays from Memorial Day through Labor Day.  When they aren't doing speed sessions, they host a five mile run from the St. Peters store.  I'm sure they're starting something similar in Chesterfield, but I haven't kept up with what's going on over there since I'm not involved."

SBRStL - What values can you take  from your training and racing?

Melinda - "More than anything, integrity. When you look around at the people who come out to the races……honesty and integrity are always present. I don’t think of myself as any different than anybody else here today. In a hundred years from now will it matter that I won the Willows Way 5k? I don’t know, but there are other things I can do that ..will.. make a difference. "

SBRStL - We don't doubt that.