Emmy Stocker has never met a race she doesnt like. From the mile to the marathon and even farther, the Cos Cob mother of three has run them all, often two or three in one weekend. Throughout the prime season of April to October, Stocker can be found every weekend racing the roads of Fairfield County, New York or beyond. And in spite of her packed competitive schedule, she doesnt sacrifice quality for quantity she usually places highly in the womens 50-to-54 age group and does well in the overall female placings. In this years Lightfoot Summer Series, which continues Saturday with the fifth of its six events, an 11-miler in Silvermine, shes leading the overall womens standings with 1,316 points.
Last weekend was a typical one for Stocker. She raced in Central Park in the New York Road Runners Club Championship race, then returned to the Big Apple the next day for the Brooklyn Bridge 5K. But her real forte is ultra-distance races those longer than a marathon. On the weekend of July 13-14, she ran her sixth 100 miler in Vermont, finishing in 28 hours 37 minutes, an incredible time given the 90-degree temperatures and the courses rugged trails. Two days later, she was racing repeat miles at the Two Man Relay in New Canaan, and the following Saturday, she raced nine miles in the heat in Norwalk.
After 30 years, Ive learned to listen to my body, Stocker said in explaining her secret. If I feel good, I push myself in a race, if not, I back off and make it a workout.
But for Stocker, the biggest attraction of racing isnt the material rewards, but the friends she meets at every event. Its my social life, she said. Id go crazy running by myself.
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