Mail Tribune Sports - Mom, daughter on the run

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

2000-09-14

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The mother and daughter running tandem of Lynn Campbell (left) and Siene Layman after running the Portland Marathon. Mom, daughter on the run Produce personal best efforts during Portland Marathon By FRANK SILOW ike many other Rogue Valley runners, Lynn Campbell and her daughter Siene Layman got their start at the now defunct Providence/Mail Tribune Family Race Festival. Campbell talked her daughter into running in the 1993 popular Rogue Valley event. Then four years later, the tables were turned when Layman coaxed her mother into competing in the 1997 Portland Marathon. After Campbell missed the 1998 Portland Marathon because of an injury, the female duo returned to this year's distance event Oct. 1 and won the mother-daughter division. Layman, trying to meet the Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3 hours, 40 minutes, missed the mark by six minutes, while Campbell finished at 4:49. Both times were personal records for the women. Campbell completed the 26.2-mile course in a time of 5:30 in her only other attempt. "It's nice to have a mom you can do something like that together," said Layman. "It's hard to express how optimum an experience it is. When you cross the finish line you feel like you can rule the world." Layman, 26, had much difference circumstances when she participated in her first Providence run in 1993. "It was a miserable experience for my daughter," said Campbell. "She got sick, threw up and they wanted to take her off the course. She finished nevertheless." Since then Layman has become a serious runner and has her sights set on running in the Boston Marathon. She's also competes in triathlons. "For marathon runners, Boston is it," said Layman. "If you qualify for Boston, it dictates what type of runner you are. The most intriguing thing about it is not everybody can run in it. That makes it more challenging." She now works for a Portland running shoe company and volunteers for Portland Fit, an organization that provides training programs for marathoners. Campbell, 46, had never done any running until her co-workers at Timber Products asked her to join their team for the 1992 Providence run. "I came home and said, `Good grief, what did I do,"' said Campbell. "I couldn't run a half a block. So I had to start running because I didn't want to embarrass the team." Campbell participated in the Providence run five of the next six years and has competed in the Pear Blossom. She ran 5-to-6 miles at least five times a week to prepare for the marathon. In addition, she had weekly telephone conversations with her daughter discussing training. "It's probably the hardest thing I've done next to labor," said the mother of six. "At about the 20-mile mark, I kept saying, `What am I doing. I don't want to do this anymore. How did I let my daughter talk me into this.' But I didn't want to bail out because you don't get a tee-shirt or medal unless you finish." Fortunately, the experience proved gratifying. "There's not too many people that can say, `My mom runs a marathon with me,"' said Campbell. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune   Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.