Former South Carolina distance runner Kayla Lampe (2011-2015) hasn’t slowed down since graduating seven years ago. In fact, the former cross country/track and field standout and current traveling emergency room nurse has picked up the pace and has taken things to the next level after competing in six marathons in the last four years.
“When I was in college, I always felt like the longer the distance, the better the race was for me,” said Lampe. “I knew when I graduated that a marathon would be the goal, but I took a little time to get to that point by running a couple of half marathons to ease into it. It was just something I was really good at immediately. The longer races seemed to suit me the best. A 10K (6.2 miles) feels short to me now.”
Initially, Lampe said she just wanted to run one as a goal. She exceeded that.
“I’ve done the Philadelphia Marathon, the Los Angeles Marathon, California International Marathon, the Chicago Marathon, New York City, and Boston,” Lampe said. “I’ve been trying to do different ones to have different experiences. I just did the three majors in a row.”
While she is accustomed to distance running, there is a big difference in running the usual 5K (3.1 miles) and 10K events for cross country in college to running a 26.2-mile marathon.
“With the training, it’s obviously a lot more mileage,” Lampe said. “There’s usually one long run per week. This past training cycle I was doing 20 to 24 mile long runs every week. Then I’d do a lot of doubles, which is a great way to get mileage in without doing it all at once. There are different types of workouts, too.
“I had no concept of how fast I could run. It’s so different than running at 10K. I thought a seven-minute mile pace is really ambitious and that maybe I should revise my goals. Then I ran faster than I expected. I ran two hours and fifty-one minutes for my first marathon. The expectations changed after that.”
She ran the 2022 New York City Marathon in 2:40:22 and was the 23rd female/11th American to cross the finish line. The 2022 Boston Marathon saw her finish as the 25th female/12th American in a time of 2:38:38, and in the 2021 Chicago Marathon, she was the 18th female/13th American with a time of 2:38:25.
“You have to override your brain when it’s telling you it wants to stop,” Lampe said. “You have to have positive thinking about all the work you put in during training. You have to hang in there and keep…