Thursday, April 25, 2024
Not sure you’d want to run a race against Heather Gothard.
You might be paying for bread pudding ... her favorite post-race treat.
Gothard hasn’t climbed Mount Everest, but who knows? That might be next the her busy agenda for the 33-year-old Granbury fitness guru.
Her immediate goal is to run the 100-miler in less than 24 hours at Saturday’s Dino Valley Endurance Race at Dinosaur Valley State Park outside Glen Rose.
“Competing in sports was my passion and drive as a kid,” she said. “I’d spend hours outside playing and practicing either with the boys or on my own.”
At 7 she was the first and only girl on the Burleson pee wee football team. She focused on basketball in high school, earning allregion and all-academic awards.
In 2016 she turned to running and competed in her first half marathon. In Glen Rose’s Spartan Beast Race she placed second in the women’s division.
She ran her first 30K trail race in 2017 and finished fourth.
“In 2018, I drank the Kool-Aid and competed in four trail races from 25K-50K distances (first ultra trail race),” Gothard said.
She won one - the Habanero 30K. Last year she won marathon, 50K, 50-mile and 69-mile races.
She qualified for the North Face Endurance Challenge Elite women’s division in San Francisco where she competed against some of the top female endurance runners.
She’s hiked Pikes Peak in Colorado and spent the first part of the year training in Oregon to get as much vertical/elevation climb as possible.
“As far as my journey goes, I discovered running as an open invitation to journey inward and explore. It became an outlet for me to channel my extreme nature while connecting with nature - being one with the trail. I believe the way we navigate through a trail parallels to how we navigate through our life journey. There’s always going to be rocky times, uphill climbs and turning points along the way.”
Gothard enjoys helping others reach their fitness and health goals.
She also likes road trips with her pup “Huck” and “spending time with friends and family, cooking and eating all the good foods of Mother Earth.”
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“With COVID canceling most races, there’s one thing 2020 has taught me — it’s to be flexible with your plans, but not your goals.”
Heather Gothard
