By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
When Rubi Spray ran at Great Bend High School, girls were still running 4K cross country courses. In her Hall of Fame career at Newman University in Wichita, she posted the three fastest 5K times in school history. Her 6K time as a Jet is the second-fastest. But the 3.73 miles in a 6K are a far cry from the 26.2 miles in a marathon. Spray recently completed her first marathon and now has eyes on qualifying for the Boston Marathon in 2026.
"I would like to say I thrived in those distances, so shifting my training to 26.2 miles was one humbling experience because, hey Rubi, you can't run a 5-minute mile for 26 miles," she said. "You have to really adjust your pacing to stay consistent for that long of a period."
Spray trained for 6-12 miles a day, maxing out at 18 miles before the Salina Crossroads on a cold and wet Nov. 2. Still, she had faith she could run the extra 8.2 miles to finish the race. Her time of 3:37.48 was 74th overall out of 453 entries, 14th fastest among women runners, and third among Kansas women. She averaged 8:19 a mile, getting faster as she went.
"It was about mile 20 that I was like, 'Okay, if you're going to go, you better go now,'" she said. "I ended up negative splitting. I think I had one mile split that was 6:58, 7:00, 7:14, 7:35, so I made up some good time in those last six miles."
Everything was a transition. More than 5,200 runners registered for the Crossroads, which also included a half-marathon and shorter races. Not only was Spray running more miles, but with two kids upstairs, she did most of her training indoors on a treadmill. The temperature peaked at 59 degrees that day and rain fell throughout the race.
"You are just soaking wet," Spray said. "You're stepping in puddles and your feet feel super heavy. I've never gotten a blister but I had a pretty good-sized blister on my foot."
But the transition has been a good test for Spray. A successful runner in the past, she wants to prove to herself that being a 32-year-old mother of two is not a deterrent to having big goals.
READ MORE: Former GBHS standout to be inducted into Newman HOF
"Just the way you have to adjust your training to your eveyrday life has probably been the hardest for me," she said. "I wake up at 3:45 in the morning to hop on my treadmill downstairs. Just the way I feel my body and the things I put into my body have been the most important parts for me. It's been a learning experience for sure."
Nutrition has been a big part of the journey. Being a mother is different than being a professional athlete, so Spray makes the most of her meals. She tries to make homemade meals out of whole foods every day and drinks at least a gallon of water each day.
"That's always hard when you're feeding two small kids who want certain things," she said. "For me, it's always been big carbs, big on protein, lean meats. I've never been hungrier than when I was marathon training. It was just this ravaging hunger of needing to feed my body. When our bodies crave certain things, that's our body's way of telling us we need those nutrients."
Spray is now in recovery mode ahead of a new training session she will begin in January. She trained at 7:45 to 8:00-mile pace for her first marathon. She will bump that to 7:20-7:35 pace in her quest to make the Boston Marathon qualifying time, which is three hours, 30 minutes for women her age.
"I think I learned a lot and I think there are a lot of things I know I want to do this next training block," she said. "Some consistency. There were days when my kids were up in the middle of the night or I wanted to hit the snooze button. I do want to focus a lot more on outdoor running."
Spray and her friend, Kayti Trapp, hope to run the Rock 'n' Roll Nashville Marathon in April.