Miller Completes Wild, Marathon-Filled Weekend

TOWSON, Md. — As the Goucher women's lacrosse season begins to kick into gear with the program's first spring practices, head coach Ceri Miller will need to get creative in her attempts to keep up with a hobby that most people would never dream of taking up.

Miller, who was hired to lead the team last July, has completed two marathons during that span, capped off by her participation in Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge at Disney World in mid-January, an event which requires running a half marathon on Saturday followed by a full 26.2 mile marathon the following morning.

The race's website advertises the weekend as 39.3 miles of pure fun over a two-day period, though many people might think of a few other adjectives to describe the task. Miller, however, has nothing but positive things to say about the experience.

"This was my third year going back to Disney," she said. "I did the half marathon one year, the full marathon last year and then both this year.

"The race was awesome," she continued. "Which is something you wouldn't expect to say after running 40 miles. But it went well. I tried to run the half marathon a little bit slower to save up for Sunday, and the marathon went great. It was my second-fastest marathon time."

Both races began at 5:30 a.m., which required 3 a.m. wakeups from Miller to make sure that she got to the starting line in time. She did not catch up on her sleep at the conclusion of each event, though, choosing instead to wander around several of Disney's theme parks, and she attributes that decision to helping her body quickly recover from the exhausting weekend.

"I think it was important to keep things moving," Miller said. "If I had lain down and fallen asleep it would have been bad news. But it turns out I wasn't even sore after either race."

Running has been a part of Miller's life for a considerable length of time. Her father has run marathons, and he helped encourage both her and her sister to do the same. Miller also played lacrosse for McDaniel from 2007-09, and her coach, Goucher alum Muffie Bliss, was a distance runner as well.

After graduating from college, Miller participated in a sprint triathlon and her sister signed her up for multiple half marathons. She first attempted to participate in a full marathon in October, 2011, but ran into some unforeseen health issues.

"I was training with a group to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, but I actually found out before the race that I was having heart problems," Miller said. "At random times, my heart rate would just shoot over 200."

Miller was diagnosed with a condition called paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (referred to as PSVT). She was cleared, however, by the beginning of January to run in her first half marathon at Disney and by the fall of that year she was once again ready to attempt to race in a full marathon.

A New Jersey native, Miller signed up for the New York City Marathon that November. Unfortunate circumstances, though, once again prevented her from fulfilling her goal, as the race was canceled due to the destruction caused to the area by Hurricane Sandy.

Last January, she was finally able to complete her first full marathon down at Disney World, and Miller's dedication to running has only increased since beginning her tenure at Goucher. Prior to the Goofy Challenge, she had completed both the Baltimore Half Marathon and made a return trip to New York for the NYC Marathon in early November.

These achievements are certainly not possible without a considerable time commitment, and free time can often be hard to come by in the world of college coaching. One way to overcome this barrier is flexibility, and Miller has gradually increased the flexibility of her running schedule over the years.

"I used to be really strict," she said. "If the calendar said I needed to run four miles that day, then I absolutely needed to run four miles. Over time, I've noticed that if you miss a day it's not the end of the world. You can always add miles to a run later in the week. So I've gotten a lot easier on myself."

Miller plans to keep up with her running during the lacrosse season, though not at quite the same intensity level. She cites the spring as an important opportunity to provide her body with a bit of rest after such a demanding schedule throughout the rest of the year, and she takes advantage of the extra time to focus on other exercising activities.

"I like to use my running offseason to do things that I don't have time for otherwise," Miller explained. "I am certified to teach TRX, spinning and PiYo, so I have started to pick up training in those areas again. But I still do long runs on weekends either before or after practice."

The first-year coach intends to ramp up her running routine as the season nears its conclusion, with tentative plans to sign up for the Frederick Half Marathon on May 4. After that, Miller hopes to start choosing her marathons based on potential vacation destinations.

"From here on out, I want to run at places that I've always wanted to see," she said. "I've never been to Chicago, I've heard that Chicago's awesome, so I want to run the Chicago Marathon. I really want to go to Ireland, so I'll look for a marathon in Ireland."

Miller also left the door open for building on her near-40 mile race weekend from January.

"I don't know if I'll ever do one of those ultra-marathons where you run 50 miles in one day," she concluded. "But running a half and a full in one weekend wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. And I've also thought about maybe doing a Half Ironman [which consists of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run], just to change it up a little bit."