Interview with Emily LeVan

By Brooke Edwards

For Emily LeVan, 35, running has always been just one facet of who she is.

Growing up in Oklahoma City, LeVan performed well on the high school track. But when she entered Bowdoin College, LeVan put running aside to become an All American in field hockey.

A few years after college graduation in, LeVan ran her first marathon — the 1998 Sugarloaf Marathon in Maine — with a time of 3:16:24. In 2004, she won the Sportshoe Maine Marathon with a time of 2:39:54. This time made her the first woman to ever finish a Maine marathon in under 2:40 and caught the attention of the running world.

Between steadily shaving minutes from her marathon time, LeVan also completed a degree in nursing from the University of Southern Maine and took some time out from running to hike the 2100-mile Appalachian Trail and to have a daughter Madeline — Maddie for short.

In her first race after becoming a mother, LeVan was the fastest American woman at the 2005 Boston Marathon, finishing in 12th place overall with a time of 2:43:14. She was then asked to join the IAAF World Championship marathon team in Helsinki, Finland, in 2005 where LeVan finished with a time of 2:38:32 and in 35th place overall.

In 2006, LeVan returned to Boston and was once again the fastest U.S. woman, finishing in 13th place overall with a 2:37:01. The time was both a personal best and enough to qualify her for the 2008 Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon with an A-standard time (sub 2:39:00).

But this past fall, LeVan and her husband were given the devastating news that their daughter Maddie has acute leukemia. She spoke with New York Road Runners about the different trials she is facing and how she’s managed to turn a tragedy into a cause worth running for.

New York Road Runners: I’ve been looking at your website TwoTrials.org, but I was hoping you could tell us in your own words what Two Trials is and how it got started.
Emily LeVan: Two Trials is a fund-raiser that my husband, my daughter, and I decided to start after she was diagnosed with leukemia on November 4 of last year. The reason that we decided to do a fund-raiser is that we had just been so struck by the support that the Maine Children’s Cancer Program has offered, and we felt really strongly about being able to do something to give back to that program. And we feel really strongly about supporting local interests and local programs.

NYRR: And what is the “two trials” theme?
EL: Well, the fund-raiser began on January 18, which was Maddie’s fourth birthday (In the background Maddie yells, “Yeah, my birthday!”) [laughs]. And it’s going to be running through the Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon on April 20 in Boston. And so we came up with the idea of two trials, because on the website we are going to be chronicling my training and buildup toward the Trials along with Maddie’s treatment for leukemia. We look at our life right now, among other things, as traveling through two trials.

And on a subnote, trial has another meaning in that we have chosen to include Maddie in a clinical trial as part of her treatment for leukemia because we feel pretty strongly about the importance of research and clinical trials in the advancement of the treatment for cancer and all sorts of other diseases. And then we also look at the word trial as meaning a challenge.

NYRR: How did you find out about Maddie’s condition?
EL: She first developed a cough about ten days before she was diagnosed. And the cough persisted for three days or so. It wasn’t anything spectacular, just kind of a dry cough and didn’t have any other symptoms associated with it. But then she developed a fever, and the fever would kind of spike up and down. And so when the fever came into the picture I took her in to see her doctor. We decided to give her a round of antibiotics to see if maybe she had some sort of bacterial bug. During that time, she also started to become really lethargic. She didn’t have any energy to speak of and she was sleeping quite a bit. She also started to become pale.

So after that round of antibiotics and with those new signs I took her back into the doctor and he decided to run some blood tests. And that was really what kind of sealed the deal. Her white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets were all dangerously low. And I guess in a child, pretty much the only reason for that is leukemia. So he immediately sent us down to Portland, which is about an hour away from where we live, to Maine Medical Center. They have a big children’s hospital there. And we started treatment there essentially that same day.

NYRR: And how is Maddie doing today?
EL: She’s doing well today. Overall she’s been responding really well to treatment, meaning that her blood values are looking good.

NYRR: I can’t even imagine what you’re going through and the time and energy Maddie’s illness must consume. Four years ago, you didn’t run the Trials because Maddie had just been born. With everything your family is going through, did you ever think you wouldn’t be able to run this time either?
EL: Initially we were so overwhelmed and shocked and devastated by the diagnosis. I mean it’s not something you could ever prepare yourself for. Maddie is our only child and she’s been an amazingly healthy kid up until this point. We didn’t have any idea how we were going to have to restructure our lives to provide her with the best support and access to everything that she would need.

Initially we spent tendays in the hospital, and thinking about the Trials was the last thing in my mind. The whole time, Brad and Maddie were still very supportive of my running. And then once we got home, we started to think about how we were going to restructure our lives and what things we were going to have to change or cut out to manage all of this. And we just came to the conclusion that the Trials were something we didn’t want to cut out for a variety of reasons. Running the Trials is not just a goal for me, but for Brad, and I think for Maddie. I took Maddie out in the baby jogger when she was six weeks old, and she goes to a lot of my races. So she understands how important running is to me. So with the support of Brad and Maddie, I felt like, okay, I think maybe we can do this. In December, fitting in running was pretty challenging. But in the last three or four weeks it’s kind of come around and I think we’re in a little bit of a better spot where we can manage it and I can fit in some good training runs.

NYRR: How have you been able to train through all of this?
EL: It’s been a different kind of mentality training-wise than it usually is for me, where I’m looking at 12 or 16 weeks leading up to a marathon. I’d say that this training cycle I've had to be a lot more flexible when I do workouts. I’ve also had to refocus a little bit. In the past I’ve often been pretty focused on making sure I get 100-mile weeks, 110-mile weeks, even 120-mile weeks. And I know that this time that’s just not going to be possible. I just don’t have the time and frankly I don’t have the physical, mental, or emotional energy to log that many miles. And so I’ve been trying to focus more on just getting in the quality workouts and not getting too focused on high mileage. I’m probably going to be looking at between 85 and 90 miles a week during this cycle. I’ve been trying to not be too stressed out at passing up a day because things come up and oftentimes things happen that I don’t anticipate. So sometimes if I miss a day training, I just try to make sure that I get in the quality workout that I want. So far, it’s actually worked out pretty well. And we’ve been pretty fortunate with Maddie’s health—we haven’t run into too many roadblocks or complications.

NYRR: I’m glad to hear that. Do you feel as though there is added pressure on you to do well at the Trials, with the connection to Maddie and the fund-raiser? Or is just extra motivation?
EL: I definitely don’t think it’s added pressure. I think it’s in some ways given me some extra motivation and push. It’s really exciting everyday when I get on my email to look at some of the comments people have written on the website about what we’re doing. It’s very inspirational. And also just feeling like I am working toward this really special goal of raising money for the cancer program is helping to inspire and motivate me along.

As far as pressure goes, in some ways I feel like since Maddie became sick, my whole idea of running has changed a little bit. I feel like compared to what we’re dealing with with Maddie being sick, going out there and running a marathon actually seems pretty easy. When we’re looking at a two- to-three-year treatment for childhood cancer, a 26.2-mile race seems less daunting. And it actually just seems really exciting, primarily because it’s been a goal that Maddie, my husband and I have been looking forward to for so long.

NYRR: And how are you feeling about the Trials and your potential there and what you hope to accomplish?
EL: It’s a little bit hard for me to know exactly what I would hope for in terms of what my time would be and things like that because I’m kind of having to go at it in a very different way than I’ve done it before. But I’m really hoping to just go out there and have a good race and feel good.

It’s going to be such an amazing atmosphere. I’ve run the Boston Marathon five times and the crowd support is just incredible. And I can imagine that it will be similar for the Trials. So I’m just excited to go be a part of it, have a good race, and feel good doing it. If I’m able to run a PR that would be great, but I’m trying to kind of temper my expectations a little bit because my training is having to be a little bit different than it typically would be.

NYRR: If Maddie’s health continues to do well, will she be coming along to watch you at the finish line at the Trials?
EL: Oh, definitely! I mean provided that she is doing all right health-wise, she is very excited to come watch the race. She has come to quite a few of my marathons. In fact, she took her first steps at the Boston Marathon in 2006. The first time she ever walked was in the lobby of the Boston Park Plaza after the race. Races have been such a central part of her life. She really enjoys the atmosphere. She enjoys cheering. And it’s also a great opportunity for her to see a lot of her family because they often come to watch the races. She is already planning on bringing a little cowbell and a little pom-pom and things like that. So we’ll just hope that her health continues to go well and that she doesn’t come down with any sort of bug or any infection. Right now, she’s out and about and has pretty good energy. So we’ll hope that that continues as we look toward April 20.

NYRR: And does Maddie ever talk about wanting to become a marathon runner like her mom?
EL: You know, it’s funny. She has run in a couple of kids’ races and she likes it. She talks about doing a lot of the stuff that my husband and I do. She talks about becoming a nurse and about running in races and she talks about riding her bike like her dad does. I’ll support her in whatever she chooses to do as she grows. I think it’s great for her to be able to explore the world and develop into her own person. And if she ends up wanting to run then that’s great, but if she doesn’t, that’s fine too.

NYRR: And have you still been able to continue working as a nurse?
EL: I had to cut back on the amount that I work. So right now, at least through the Trials, I’m just working one 12-hour shift a week. And that has worked out really well. Both my workplace and my husband’s workplace were really supportive in making any sort of alterations in our schedules that we needed. I didn’t want to have to give up work entirely because I really enjoy it. But I knew I would have to give up something somewhere because there was no way I could continue to work as much as I was and do all the training and take care of Maddie. And then hopefully once the Trials are over and once she’s completed the most intense phases of her treatments, then maybe I can go back to a little more work at the hospital.

NYRR: Aside from financial contributions at TwoTrials.org, is there anything else that your fans and the rest of the running community can do to help you reach your goals and help Maddie and your family get through this?
EL: We love hearing any words of support. That’s always inspiring, as I said. I think something that people can do locally is go give blood. I know that a lot of runners probably aren’t real excited to give blood because they like holding on to those red blood cells. But when we were in the hospital we were really struck by how important blood donations were. I don’t think that Maddie would be with us if she hadn’t been able to have the blood transfusions that she had early on.

Interview conducted January 23 and January 25, 2008, and posted January 31, 2008.