A Lombard marathoner's year

In April 2010, Doris Schertz of Lombard won the women's 70 to 74 age division in the Boston Marathon.

This April, at 72, she repeated the feat.

And while back-to-back wins at the prestigious Boston Marathon is quite an accomplishment for a woman in her 70s, the victory is even sweeter for the rough road Schertz ran in the year between races.

In that year, Schertz did a lot of running at places including the B.R. Ryall YMCA in Glen Ellyn and the Morton Arboretum in Lisle. There were several shorter races including 5K, 10K and 10-mile runs. And a knee injury that required surgery in December.

Here's an edited version of Schertz's take on the year between Boston win No. 1 and her most recent victory.

Spring, summer 2010

“I thought it was a fluke,” Schertz said of her 2010 age group win. “It was quite an achievement for me, but I guess I didn't realize it was an achievement for anybody else.”

So she iced and stretched and tried to relieve her sore muscles. Then, Schertz got ready for more races throughout spring and summer.

August

Schertz traveled to Germany to see an exchange student she formerly hosted get married and to do some sightseeing.

“I was running to catch a tour bus because I forgot my camera. And zap, down I went on the cobblestones right on my left knee,” Schertz said.

She didn't scream, cry or miss the tour. She just got right on the bus and cleaned her injury with a single moist towelette and bandage from her fanny pack.

September

“When I came back from Germany and tried to do some September races, I was really feeling it. I had to ice it; it just wasn't getting any better,” she said.

Her podiatrist and chiropractor evaluated the injury and said she may have torn a ligament or cartilage but gave permission to keep running.

Remembering her mother's advice not to waste anything, Schertz registered for the 2011 Boston Marathon using the free signup she received for winning her age group.

October

Schertz ran the Chicago Marathon, with her doctor's message in the back of her head, “If it really hurts, you probably tore something.”

It really hurt.

November

The last race of the season, an eight-miler, came and went with less knee pain than Schertz experienced during the Chicago Marathon.

Still, she got her left knee X-rayed and when it showed no bone breaks, she had an MRI. Sure enough, her meniscus, a piece of cartilage that cushions the knee, was torn.

Surgery was in her future.

December - February

Orthopedic surgery on Dec. 17 went well, and after two weeks of rest it was time for physical therapy. Six weeks of physical therapy with plenty of knee exercises, swimming, stationary biking and walking — but no running, no pounding.

“I didn't want to run on the ice, anyway,” she said.

But realizing her training group, sponsored by Chicago Area Runners Association, was at the arboretum practicing hills while she was walking the track at College of DuPage was “kind of demoralizing, to say the least.”

But the wife of a marathoner and grandmother of several high school runners got back to jogging the last two weeks of February, during a trip to California.

“Once I got to California, I could run along the ocean, but I was cautious,” Schertz said. “Over that two-week period, I built myself up to about 12 miles.”

Spring and race day

Training buddies were bugging Schertz about when she would get her 20-mile training run done.

“One of the things that our program always stresses is getting in those long runs,” said Wendy Jahen, executive director of the Chicago Area Runners Association. “It's that time on your feet where you go slower than your race pace so your legs get used to running for a long time.”

Three weeks before the race, she finally ran 20 miles. But Schertz still wasn't happy with her training.

So when she finished the Boston Marathon in 4:28:23, only three minutes slower than her previous year's time, she was ready for a warm bath in a nearby hotel room to ease her aching muscles.

It was a call from her son that let her know to go to the awards ceremony, pick up her age group winner's cup, and celebrate a victory anew.