Local Runner Pushing The Limits

If you think running a mile is hard try running 26 of them without stopping.  Or if you’re looking for an even more challenging run try 100 miles and all in around 24 hours.  That’s what a Siouxland athlete did last month participating in the Prairie Spirit Trail 100 Miler in Kansas on March 28^th.

Jill Becker, a Personal Training Coordinator and Wellness Coach at the Norm Waitt Sr. YMCA, has participated in long endurance races before.  In fact, she has run in quite a few of them in just the last few years including 9 marathons, ten 50K (31 miles) races and two 50 Milers.  The 100 Miler she ran a couple weeks ago she finished in 24 hours 5 minutes and 47 seconds.  She was the 6^th female to cross the finish line and was 23^rd overall.

Jill participated in cross country and track at Briar Cliff University and started pushing her endurance running after graduation in 2009 when she ran in her first marathon in Sioux City.  Shortly after that her running passion took off and she qualified for and ran in the Boston Marathon in 2011.  The next year she learned of Ultra Marathons, which are any race over 26.2 miles, and her first was a relay from Sioux City, IA to Dubuque, IA over a weekend.  Jill has been checking off races from all across the Midwest ever since and is building quite a reputation as an Ultrarunner.

Jill has been competing in Ultra’s just a couple years now and is already winning races.  She took 1^st place female at the Prairie Spirit 50K in Kansas with a time of 4:48:09 in October of last year and was 3^rd overall and set the women’s course record.  That’s 31 miles in under 5 hours and then just over a month later she took first place female at the Riddle Box 50K in South Dakota with a time of 5:58 and also 3^rd overall.  Last year she was a contestant to be on the cover of Runners World Magazine and just this past February she was the Featured Runner in Epic Ultras February newsletter.

Jill has accomplished a lot in her short running career but it hasn’t come easy for her.  She has had to persevere through major setbacks including an Achilles tendon surgery that sidelined her going into college but that only made her stronger and more determined.  She said

“I believe you can do anything you want to do if you are persistent, consistent, and keep moving forward with whatever goal you may have.”

She plans on competing in the Leadville, Colorado 100 Miler in August.  Good luck Jill!!