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Carolyn Peeples, 'Master' Runner

By Ed Hardee

Lots of Amelia Island Runners lead busy lives, so if you’ve been feeling stressed lately, take a break and read what Carolyn Peeples has been up to. You’ll feel better!
Carolyn and her husband Bryan own Pak’s Karate Academy in Yulee, with 170 students. In addition to her regular daily schedule of teaching, running and working out, Carolyn has been dealing with construction of their new, 16,000-square-foot building in Nassau Lakes.

Carolyn with her martial arts awards.

On top of that, she’s been training for a major advancement in her martial-arts rank, hoping to move up to a 4th-degree black belt and achieve the level of “Master.”
On top of that, she’s volunteered to supervise the kids’ portion of AIR’s Turtle Trot races on Labor Day weekend. She’s got big plans to increase youth participation this year, since guiding young people toward physical fitness for life is one of her passions.
Oh, and one more thing – between this October and January, she’s hoping to run four marathons. And three half-marathons. With some shorter races thrown in for good measure.
Whew!

'Goal is to finish'
“My goal is just to finish. I want to go out there, from start to finish, and just be happy with what I’m doing,” says Carolyn, who’s 31.
Her interest in martial arts dates back to her teens, when she was dating Bryan, who’s now a 6th Degree black belt. She added running to the mix about eight years ago, two years after the couple began teaching at the Pak’s in Fernandina Beach. Now running is part of their students’ regimen, too.
“The life skills that we teach here, and the physical aspect, it’s very important,” Carolyn says. “Bryan and I, we live what we preach. So any way I can promote physical fitness for the kids, be it through running, martial arts, soccer, baseball, any of those activities, it’s important. It’s important that kids are active.
“I’ve told parents that I’m hoping that just by having these guys run now, maybe when they’re 19, 20, 30 years old and they feel out of shape, they’ll say: ‘You know, I did this once. I know I can do it again.’ Because that’s all it takes for physical fitness, the confidence to know that you can do it.”
And speaking of confidence…

Four marathons
Why set out to do four marathons, plus three 13.1-milers, in less than four months?
“That’s a good question,” Carolyn laughs. “Somebody asked, ‘Do you think you’re gonna die in the next year, that you have to go out and do everything at once?’ I said, well, everything just fell into place.”
Things started falling into place last December with Carolyn’s first marathon, the Jacksonville Bank. She started at a 10:30 pace, but then “I just had to get my legs going” and find the pace that felt natural.

Bryan and Carolyn after the Vestcor 5K Bridges Run, where she was second in her age group.

When she finished, in a time of 4:04:41 (and an overall 9:20 pace), she ran back to meet up with a friend who was two miles behind her. The next morning, she ran six miles; in two more days, she was back at full speed. “I was real happy. Felt good. And I decided I was going to run at least another couple of marathons during my lifetime.”
Two she decided she really wanted to try were the Marine Corps in Washington, D.C. – “I’m a patriotic person and I believe in our armed forces, so that marathon appeals to me” – and New York, “the Super Bowl of marathons.” But since each is difficult to get into, she decided to enter both, to avoid being shut out.

“Run ’em both!”
Instead, both accepted her. “My husband’s great idea was, ‘You can run 'em both!” And I said, ‘But they’re a week apart!’” But I thought about it and decided, ‘You know, I could.’ I wouldn’t try it if I didn’t think I could do it.”
The Jacksonville Bank is on her schedule again, too: “You’ve got to do what you did last year to see if you can best it, or come close to what you did.”
And then there’s the Disney marathon next Jan. 8 – plus the half-marathon the day before. Doing them both is called the Goofy Challenge.
“It IS a goofy challenge,” Carolyn laughs. “My girlfriend, Jan Hodges, who I did Jacksonville with last year, came to me and said, ‘They’re doing this Goofy Challenge, and I think we can do it.”
Add to that the Outback half-marathon on Thanksgiving, the Marine Corps half in October, and some shorter races around the area like the Festival of Lights 5K and, of course, AIR’s Reindeer Run. Also, the Race for the Cure is a favorite. Last year Carolyn raised $1,400 for the cause, after the mother of one of her employees developed breast cancer.

Morning runs daily
Carolyn runs four miles a day, seven days a week; she’s on the road by 6 a.m. Then she’s off to the gym for 90 minutes of weight training, six days a week; and after that, on to Pak’s for her martial arts work, till about 2 in the afternoon. After a shower and lunch break, she’s back to teach classes and private lessons.
“We get home about 9:30 or 10 at night. It’s a tight schedule, but I’m a schedule fanatic,” she laughs.
She’s been training hard for her Master’s test that is set for Aug. 12, but when that’s done, she’ll be looking to add a long weekend training run here and there. With her cross-training, her good experiences with distance running and by keeping a comfortable pace, she’s confident she can succeed.
“Goals have to be attainable. When you set a goal, it has to be realistic, within reason for you,” Carolyn says.
“Some people might say this is not within reason. But for me, personally, I know how I work, whether mentally or physically. Physically I might develop an injury between now and then, or between two marathons; that is unforeseen. I have a goal in mind that I know physically I can accomplish. I never would have signed on to take up something as daunting as this if it wasn’t possible.” She adds that her husband and parents have been supportive.
“I feel good right now. Next year I might not, who knows. I know too many people that we’ve met through life who are doing great one year and the next year isn’t their year.
“This year I’m feeling good, and I want to accomplish what I can while I really feel good.”